"I never dreamed of winning an Emmy!" Don Knotts told me a few years ago when I contacted him about specials I was producing for TV Land. "It never occurred to me!"

When he died this past weekend at age 81, Knotts left behind a staggering legacy in showbiz awards lore. He not only tied the record for winning the most Emmys for portraying one character — a distinction matched by Ed Asner, Candice Bergen and Art Carney — he accomplished something else that no one's ever equaled: Knotts went undefeated at the Emmys, nabbing five for five nominations.

"I did that?" gasped the eternally nervous, aw-shucks Everyman when I mentioned it. "I had no idea!"

Carney had something peculiarly in common with Knotts. Both were awarded generously for roles in programs whose lead stars went Emmyless: Jackie Gleason and Andy Griffith.

In Carney's case, it was a sore subject around the boss. Marilyn Gleason, widow of TV's self-anointed "Great One," once told me, "You could never mention the Emmys to Jackie. He'd get furious!" Whenever Gleason dropped by Carney's house for a visit, Carney had to hide all of his TV statuettes in a closet.

But Griffith was no such tyrant. "Andy was so much fun to work with!" Knotts said. "When the star is fun, that's half the battle. That's why it was such a great show to be on."

Knotts left their hit TV series after several years and several Emmys, eager to cash in on his sudden superstar status by doing films like "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" and "The Reluctant Astronaut." Knotts ended up pulling off what few TV stars ever do — he made a successful crossover to film — which was the exact opposite career path his TV boss Griffith had taken.

I remember clearly what a huge hit "Astronaut" was when it came out in 1967. My mom and dad made a special occasion out of it: they stuffed my brother, sister and me into our PJs, loaded up the Oldsmobile with Kool-Aid, chips and kids, and headed to the drive-in theater in Mentor, Ohio. That only happened a few times every summer. It was obvious to me that Don Knotts was a big shot and that his movie had to be, well, "groovy."

But even though Knotts ditched Mayberry for the silver screen, he loved Griffith and gang so much that he was never gone for long. His friendship with Griffith dated back to the 1950s when they costarred on Broadway in "No Time for Sergeants." Initially, Knotts wasn't supposed to be part of "The Andy Griffith Show," but Griffith had the role of bungling Barney Fife created for him at the last minute when Knotts dropped by the set of the new TV series and asked Griffith if there was anything he could do.

Those last few Emmys Knotts won were really bogus — they were special guest appearances nominated against regular roles. Whenever that happened at Emmys past, the guests usually won, then all heck broke loose with regular stars protesting to the TV academy. As a result the academy would drop the face-off, but only long enough for people to forget what a hubbub it caused, then, foolishly, pair them off again.

One of Knotts' last two Emmys was for the 1965-66 episode "The Return of Barney Fife," which depicts him heading home for his high school reunion where he's shocked to discover that his ole sweetheart Thelma Lou is married. Another high school honey, Teena, is the focus of his second Emmy episode, "Barney Comes to Mayberry," when she arrives in town as a hotshot movie star.

Gee, looking back with hindsight now, that Barney Fife was sure a swinger, eh?

Curiously, Knotts didn't consider those roles his best work. When I asked him to cite his favorite episodes, he named two:

"Andy on Trial" — "It was the best one for me. It's about this guy sends a girl into town to get some dirt on Andy and I started bragging about myself and putting Andy down to the girl, not knowing who she was. She reports back to the guy and they put Andy on trial because I said things that made it look like he wasn't a good sheriff. When I took the stand I said all these nice things about what a good man he was. I thought it was an excellent story. It was very well written episode that gave both Andy and I a chance to do some dramatic stuff. But mostly that was for me, though, because I had a chance to emote a little bit about how I felt about Andy. And it showed more depth to Barney Fife."

"Barney and the Choir" — "That was my funniest performance. I stood out as being the worst singer in the choir and Andy insists I keep my voice lower and lower and lower till you can't hear me. We had a guy on microphone who was a really good singer. When I moved my lips, the other guy sang and everybody thought it was me … my voice … and it was very funny. It was a very difficult one to shoot because any time you're using music that way you have to do playbacks and keep recording and recording and recording and shooting, shooting, shooting, and on the third day of shooting we were there from almost 7 in the morning till almost midnight. It was fun anyway because it was a beautifully written show."

Photo: Gotcha, Don! The five-time Emmy champ humbly pretended not to care too much about his award wins, but when I asked him about his memories of those ceremony nights, he could easily recall his acceptance speeches from 40 years ago.
(CBS)