Frances Yarborough, Also known as Francey Yarborough, is the wife of the late actor Don Knotts. Her late husband was a five-time Emmy-winning actor and comedian, best known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on the 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show.
Knotts’ third and final wife before his death in 2006 was Yarborough. They first met in the late 1980s. The couple, on the other hand, had been on a marriage rollercoaster for several years.
Francey and Knotts had been friends for nearly two decades. Despite their significant age difference, a strong bond developed between them. Relive their first meeting, their journey to becoming husband and wife, and learn more about Francey Yarborough.
Biography of Frances Yarborough
Frances Yarborough was born to father Donald Howard Yarborough and mother Charity O’Connell Yarborough. She was born in the 1960s, so she is almost 70 years old.
Donald Howard Yarboroughhis father was a liberal Democrat from Texas who ran for governor in 1962 and supported John F. Kennedy.
Additionally, his father was a Marine Corps officer who served as a company commander in China at the end of World War II. In September 2009, Francey’s father died of Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, Yarborough’s father was a lawyer who advocated for the rights of Mexican immigrants and blacks. He owned his own law firm.
Francey’s father Donald was born on December 15, 1925 in New Orleans. Likewise, his paternal grandfather was president of a bank that failed during the Great Depression. When Donald was 12, his family moved to Houston.
Frances Yarborough, siblings
Frances Yarborough is his sister. Francey is the sister-in-law of Daniel de Visé, a writer and journalist who worked for the Washington Post, the Miami Herald and three other newspapers during his 23-year career. De Vise also wrote the biography of Yarborough’s late husband.
Inez Vanderburg of Austin, Texas, Leverett Yarborough of Bend, Oregon, Danny Yarborough of Los Angeles, Donald Arthur Yarborough and Mollie O’Connell Yarborough are some of Yarborough’s siblings from their father’s other relationships.
She has appeared in several films
Although her full-time employment remains unknown according to IMDb, Frances’ only film role was in the 1976 crime drama The Electric Chair. Frances Yarborough met Don Knotts while working as a production assistant.
Yarborough also appeared as the third wife (a 1960s hippie who wants to become an actress) in one of her husband’s plays, Knotts’ Plays.
How did Frances Knotts meet her husband?
Frances Knotts was married to Don Knotts. The couple reportedly got married in 2002. But how and when did the couple first meet?
“What a country!” », the comedy subscribed by her husband Don, had just ended abruptly. Francey worked as a production assistant on the show. She has played the character on the show since early 1987. And it was during this time that Don and Yarborough met. Knotts, in his book Andy and Don: the Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show, described Francey as a “beautiful and caring actress who had moved to Hollywood to pursue improvisational comedy.” Her main job at the time was helping her future husband, Don, memorize his lines.
Their ages were separated by more than 30 years.
As previously mentioned, Yarborough was in his 20s and the Andy Griffith Show actor was in his 60s when the couple first met. In the book, Andy and Don explain that they were soul mates.
“We had an instant connection,” the wife of a multiple Emmy winner recalls of their early romance.
“I lived a stupid life and so did he. We just kept talking and talking. He loved hearing about my family. He came from a crazy family and I came from a crazy family. He loved people’s quirks.” Former production assistant was added
Yarborough continued: “My first thoughts about the comic actor were…” “My first impression of him was that he seemed so vulnerable. I had never met someone so vulnerable before.
Shortly after meeting, Don and Francey went to La Scala in Beverly Hills, swapping stories and making each other laugh.
After a few months, they were a couple and Francey moved into Don’s apartment in Century City. They married in 2002 and remained husband and wife until Knotts’ death in 2006.
Frances Yarborough’s husband was an alcoholic before they met
When he met Francey, Don was largely living a nightlife, drinking too much and eating too little. He had become a chain smoker, stayed awake too long and could only sleep with the help of pills. But shortly after meeting Yarborough, the Keeping Up with Mr. Limpet star abruptly quit. Francey remembers one day hearing a gasp and dropping his cigarette, never to be seen again.
Don Knotts was married twice before Frances
Knotts’ first wife was Kathryn Metz, whom he married in 1947. They had two children: a son, Thomas Knotts, and a daughter, Karen Knotts. Metz and Don’s marriage ended in 1964.
Yarborough’s late husband then married his second wife, Loralee Czuchna, in 1974 and they were married until 1983. After Czuchna, the Morgantown native married Frances Yarborough.
The Last Days of Frances Yarborough with Don Knotts
Don Knotts and Francey were living in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles at the time of his death. During this time, Don was diagnosed with cancer, severe hypochondriasis, and a degenerative eye disease called macular degeneration.
Don told Francey not to tell anyone about her illness, least of all the tabloids. Reportedly, the reason was that the West Virginia-born actor still wanted to work and an ailing actor was unable to find work. Francey and Don decided not to tell Don’s children that he was dying. They didn’t even tell Knotts’ best friend, Andy Griffith.
The death of Don Knotts
Don had stated in his will that he did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. The doctors then turned off the devices. Francey’s husband, Don Knotts, died at 11 p.m. on February 24, 2006, a Friday, while she, Karen and Tom were hugging him.
Complications from lung cancer-related pneumonia were the former ventriloquist’s leading cause of death. Burial took place at Westwood Memorial Park, near the graves of Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Truman Capote. He saw the poignancy of people’s pride and pain and made it into something funny and endearing. The inscription was written by the widow Francey Yarborough Knotts.
Yarborough explained after Knotts’ death that her late husband “saw poignancy in people’s pride and pain” and found a way to turn that into endearing humor. Don Knotts’ last appearance was as Mayor Turkey Lurkey in the 2005 film Chicken Little.
Frances Yarborough after the death of her husband
After the death of her husband, Knotts’ last wife, Francey, gradually turned into an ex-wife. Therefore, what she is currently doing remains a mystery. As she has never exercised professional action, few titles define Francey alone. Additionally, Yarborough’s aversion to modern communications platforms complicates the situation.
Did she inherit Don Knotts’ fortune?
No full disclosure has been made about the distribution of the veteran comedian’s wealth since his death, and it will never be made public.
While he had a net worth of approximately $20 million at the time of his death, members of the Knotts family have not revealed where that money went. Regardless, Francey may have inherited a considerable fortune after the death of her millionaire husband.