Fuzzy Knight

Fuzzy Knight
Knight in Adventures of Gallant Bess (1948)
Born	John Forrest Knight (1901-05-09)May 9, 1901 Fairmont, West Virginia
Died	February 23, 1976(1976-02-23) (aged 74) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Alma mater	West Virginia University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1929–1967

John Forrest "Fuzzy" Knight (May 9, 1901 – February 23, 1976) was an American film and television actor. He was also a singer, especially in his early career. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1928 and 1967, usually as a cowboy hero's comic sidekick.

Biography

Knight was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, the third child and son of James A. and Olive Knight. In Fairmont, he worked as a clerk at a hotel and played in a theater orchestra.

He attended nearby West Virginia University where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity, a cheerleader and law student. He wrote a pep song, "Fight Mountaineers," which is still frequently used by the Mountaineer Marching Band 90 years later. He also wrote the melody for a WVU song entitled "To Thee Our Alma Mater," with words by fellow graduate David A. Christopher. He formed his own band in college and played drums, eventually leaving school to perform in vaudeville and in big bands such as Irving Aaronson's and George Olsen's.

Eventually his musical and comedy skills took him to New York, where he appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1927 and on Broadway in Here's Howe and Ned Wayburn's Gambols. He was billed under his nickname, Fuzzy (given him because of his peculiarly soft voice).

While touring with bands, Knight came to Hollywood and appeared in several musical short films for MGM and Paramount between 1928 and 1932. Mae West gave him his first notable film role in She Done Him Wrong, and he went on to play in hundreds of films over the next 30 years. By the 1940s, he was primarily playing in Western movies and was voted one of the Top Ten Money-Making Stars in Westerns in 1940.

Knight became famous to a new generation when he co-starred as Buster Crabbe's sidekick (using his own name as Private Fuzzy Knight) on the 1955 television series Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion. In semi-retirement thereafter, Knight continued to make occasional appearances in films and TV shows through 1967.

He died in his sleep at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, and was survived by his wife, actress Patricia Ryan (née Thelma de Long). He was buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in Burbank, California.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1929	Night Parade	Party Guest	Uncredited
1932	Fighting For Justice	Playing himself	Song singer at piano
	Hell's Highway	Society Red
	Vanity Street	Drunk	Uncredited
	Speed Demon	Lefty
1933	The Billion Dollar Scandal	Piano Entertainer	Uncredited
	She Done Him Wrong	Rag Time Kelly
	Under the Tonto Rim	Tex
	Sunset Pass	Willy Willard
	Her Bodyguard	Danny Dare
	This Day and Age	Max
	To the Last Man	Jeff Morley
	Sitting Pretty	Stock Clerk	Uncredited
1934	Moulin Rouge	Eddie
	Come On Marines!	Wimpy
	The Last Round-Up	Charles Bunko McGee
	I Hate Women	Cookie Smith
	Operator 13	Pvt. Sweeney
	The Cat's-Paw	Stuttering Gangster
	The Girl from Missouri	Photographer with O'Sullivan	Uncredited
	Belle of the Nineties	Comedian
	She Had to Choose	Wally
	Behold My Wife!	Photographer	Uncredited
	Night Alarm	Dinner Club Comedian
	Music in the Air	Nick
1935	Home on the Range	Cracker
	George White's 1935 Scandals	Sam Fogel	Uncredited
	Vagabond Lady	Swan - Man with Pat	Uncredited
	Dizzy Dames	Buzz
	The Murder Man	'Buck' Hawkins
	Danger Ahead	Fred Klein	Delicatessen Owner (singer/pianist)
	Trails of the Wild	Mountie Windy Cameron
	Wanderer of the Wasteland	Deputy Scott
	The Old Homestead	Lem
	Hot Off the Press
	Bars of Hate	Montague
	Mary Burns, Fugitive	Dance hall attendant
1936	The Trail of the Lonesome Pine	Tater
	Song of the Trail	Pudge
	Rio Grande Romance	Elmer
	Palm Springs	Ranch Hand	Uncredited, off screen credit
	And Sudden Death	Steve Bartlett
	Wildcat Trooper	Constable Pat O'Hearne - RCMP
	Kelly of the Secret Service	Lefty Hogan
	Sea Spoilers	Hogan
	The Plainsman	Dave
	Song of the Gringo	Zony
	With Love and Kisses	Butch
	Silks and Saddles	Bottsie Botsworth
1937	Her Husband Lies	Ears Norris	Uncredited
	The Gold Racket	Scotty Summers
	Mountain Justice	Clem Biggers
	Mountain Music	Amos Burnside
	Flying Fists	Spider
	County Fair	Whitey the Trainer
	Courage of the West	Hank Givens	First of four as the comic sidekick of Bob Baker
	Quick Money	Peter Piper Potter
	Amateur Crook	Jape - Gas-Station Attendant
	The Singing Outlaw	Longhorn	Second with Bob Baker
1938	Everybody's Doing It	Softy's Henchman	Uncredited
	Where the West Begins	Buzz - Jack's Sidekick
	Border Wolves	Clem Barrett
	The Last Stand	Pepper
	Joy of Living	Sideshow Pianist & Singer	Uncredited
	Spawn of the North	Lefty Jones
	The Cowboy and the Lady	Buzz
1939	Union Pacific	Cookie
	The Oregon Trail	Deadwood Hawkins	Serial
	Desperate Trails	Cousin Willie Strong
	Oklahoma Frontier	Frosty
	Chip of the Flying U	"Weary"
1940	Remember the Night	Bandleader at Barn Dance	Uncredited
	West of Carson City	Banjo
	My Little Chickadee	Cousin Zeb
	Boss of Bullion City	Burt Pennypacker
	Johnny Apollo	Cellmate
	Riders of Pasco Basin	Luther
	Bad Man from Red Butte	Spud
	Son of Roaring Dan	Tick Belden
	Brigham Young	Pete
	Ragtime Cowboy Joe	Joe Bushberry
	Law and Order	Deadwood
1941	Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie	Lem Fielding
	Horror Island	Stuff Oliver
	The Cowboy and the Blonde	Skeeter
	Law of the Range	Chap
	The Shepherd of the Hills	Mr. Palestrom
	Rawhide Rangers	Porky Blake
	Man from Montana	Deputy Grubby
	Badlands of Dakota	Hurricane Harry
	The Masked Rider	Patches McQuilt
	New York Town	Gus Nelson
	Arizona Cyclone	Muleshoe
	Fighting Bill Fargo	Scoop
1942	Stagecoach Buckaroo	Clem Clemmons
	Butch Minds the Baby	Wyoming Bill
	Juke Girl	Ike Harper
	Lady in a Jam	Govt. Man's Cabbie	Uncredited
	The Silver Bullet	Wild Bill Jones
	Boss of Hangtown Mesa	Dr. J. Wellington Dingle
	Deep in the Heart of Texas	"Happy" T. Snodgras
	Apache Trail	Juke
	Little Joe, the Wrangler	Little Joe Smith
	The Old Chisholm Trail	Alvin Pendergast
1943	Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground	Si Dugan
	He's My Guy	Sparks
	Cheyenne Roundup	Cal Calkins
	Raiders of San Joaquin	Eustace Clairmont
	Frontier Law	Ramblin' Rufe Randel
	The Lone Star Trail	Angus MacAngus
	Arizona Trail	'Kansas' Cobb
	Corvette K-225	Cricket
1944	Marshal of Gunsmoke	Glowworm Johnson
	Oklahoma Raiders	Banjo Bonner
	Hi, Good Lookin'!	Joe Smedley
	The Great Alaskan Mystery	'Grit' Hartman	Serial, [Chs. 4-13]
	Cowboy and the Senorita	Fuzzy
	Boss of Boomtown	Corporal 'Chatter' Box
	Take It Big	Cowboy Joe
	Trigger Trail	Echo
	Allergic to Love	Charlie
	Trail to Gunsight	Horatius Van Sickle
	The Singing Sheriff	Fuzzy
	Riders of the Santa Fe	Bullseye Johnson
	The Old Texas Trail	H. Pinkerton 'Pinky' Pinkley
1945	Frisco Sal	Hallelujah
	Song of the Sarong	Pete McGillicutty
	Beyond the Pecos	Barnacle Pete Finnegan
	Swing Out, Sister	Clutch
	Trail to Vengeance	Hungry Huggins
	Renegades of the Rio Grande	Ranger Trigger Bidwell	Alternative title: Bank Robbery
	Bad Men of the Border	Mortimer P. Rockabye Jones
	Code of the Lawless	Bonanza Featherstone
	Senorita from the West	Rosebud
	Frontier Gal	Fuzzy
1946	Girl on the Spot	Bim
	Gun Town	Ivory
	Her Adventurous Night	Cudgeons
	Lawless Breed	Tumbleweed
	Rustler's Round-Up	Pinkerton J. 'Pinky' Pratt
	Gunman's Code	Bosco O'Toole
1947	The Egg and I	Cab Driver
1948	Adventures of Gallant Bess	Woody
1949	Down to the Sea in Ships	Lern Sykes	Uncredited
	Rimfire	Porky Hodges
	Feudin' Rhythm	Horseshoe
	Apache Chief	Sergeant Nevada
1950	Hostile Country	Deacon Hall
	Marshal of Heldorado	The Mayor
	Crooked River	Deacon
	Colorado Ranger	Deacon
	Hills of Oklahoma	Jiggs Endicott
	West of the Brazos	Judge Deacon
	Fast on the Draw	Deacon
1951	Wanted: Dead or Alive	Texas - U. S. Marshal
	Canyon Raiders	Texas Milburn
	Skipalong Rosenbloom	Sneaky Pete	Alternative title: Square Shooter
	Nevada Badmen	Texas
	Stagecoach Driver	Texas McGillicudy
	Show Boat	Trocadero Piano Player	Uncredited
	Gold Raiders	Sheriff
	Honeychile	Ice Cream Vendor
	Lawless Cowboys	Horace Greeley Smithers
	Stage to Blue River	Texas
1952	Night Raiders	Tex
	Rancho Notorious	The Barber	Uncredited
	Rodeo	Jazbo Davis
	Oklahoma Annie	Larry
	The Gunman	Blinkey
	Kansas Territory	Cap
	Fargo	Tad Sloan
	Feudin' Fools	Traps
1953	Topeka	Pop Harrison
	Vigilante Terror	Strummer Jones
	Geraldine	Song Plugger	Uncredited
1956	The Naked Hills	Pitch Man
1958	The Notorious Mr. Monks	Tom
1959	These Thousand Hills	Jacob Smith	Uncredited
1965	The Bounty Killer	Captain Luther
1966	Waco	Telegraph Operator
1967	Hostile Guns	Buck
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1950–1951	The Gene Autry Show	Sagebrush - Sidekick	4 episodes
1955–1957	Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion	Pvt. Fuzzy Knight	33 episodes
1959	The Man and the Challenge	Burro Charlie	1 episode
1960	Outlaws	Isaac Miller	1 episode
1962	The Tall Man	Johnny Red	1 episode
	The Joey Bishop Show	Charles Porter	2 episodes

External links

• Fuzzy Knight at IMDb
• Fuzzy Knight at Find a Grave
• Fuzzy Knight and His Little Piano film short from YouTube