Fuzzy Knight

Fuzzy Knight

actor, composer, soundtrack

Fuzzy Knight was born on May 09, 1901 in USA. Fuzzy Knight's big-screen debut came with Night Parade directed by Malcolm St. Clair in 1929, strarring Party Guest (uncredited). Fuzzy Knight is known for Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion directed by Jean Yarbrough, Buster Crabbe stars as Captain Michael Gallant and Fuzzy Knight as Private Fuzzy Knight. The upcoming new movie Fuzzy Knight plays is Waco which will be released on Sep 01, 1966.

American character actor primarily of Western "sidekick" roles. Born John Forest Knight in Fairmont, West Virginia, Knight joined a traveling minstrel show as a musician at age 15. He attended The University of West Virginia as a law student, supporting himself as the drummer in his own band. Finding music more rewarding, he left school and played on the vaudeville and cabaret circuits. He appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1927 and on Broadway as a musical performer in "Here's Howe" and "Ned Wayburn's Gambols." He also played drums for the Irving Aaronson and George Olsen big bands. He appeared in a few short films for MGM and Paramount from 1928 to 1931, performing his "Little Piano" act. Mae West saw Knight in vaudeville and championed him for her film Lady Lou (1933) and gave him his first substantive film role. His comic style and the soft voice which had given him his nickname stood him in good stead in movies, and he appeared in nearly 200 films over the next thirty years. His singing was a memorable part of the films La fille du bois maudit (1936) and The Shepherd of the Hills (1941), but it was as a Western sidekick that he gained his greatest fame. He played the comic pal of Johnny Mack Brown and other cowboy heroes in scores of Westerns, and was listed among the Top Ten Money-Making Western Stars in 1940. In the 1950s, he gained new audiences with his sidekick role on Buster Crabbe's TV series Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (1955). He retired in 1960, but continued to make occasional appearances. He died in his sleep at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California at 74, survived by his wife, actress Patricia Ryan (née Thelma de Long). He is buried in an unmarked grave next to the grave of comedian Maxie Rosenbloom at Valhalla Memorial Park in Burbank, California.

  • Birthday

    May 09, 1901
  • Place of Birth

    Fairmont, West Virginia, USA

Known For

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