PLYMOUTHHollywood and Plymouth have at least one thing in commonboth loved the man known as Ted Knight
Last week marked the 11th anniversary of the Terryville native's death. He died of cancer at the age of 62. In August 1986, services were held on both coasts to honor Knight.
[Ted Knight's former home at 18 Allen St. in Terryville]
While friends and family gathered to pay their respects in California, hundreds of locals filled St. Casimir's Church in Plymouth to say farewell. Across the street from the church sits the twofamily house where Knight, who was born Tadeus Konopka spent his boyhood years.
Actress Valerie Harper, who worked with Knight on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," said she was at the West Coast service. "It was beautiful," she recalled. She said actor Adam West, Knight's close friend who played TV's Batman, did the eulogy.
"It seems like just yesterday we were working together," said Harper, who is in Hartford starring in the play "The Dragon and the Pearl." On the sitcom, Harper played the sassy New Yorker Rhoda, while Knight had the role of arrogant anchorman Ted Baxter.
It has been 20 years since the classic show went off the air, but it continues to play regularly on Nick at Nite. "He'll live forever on the reruns," Harper said.
Harper said the first day she met Knight on the set he was warm, friendly and excited. She recalled his chiseled features, crystal blue eyes and striking good looks. He was also a master at comedy, she said.
While working, Harper said Knight was very professional. "He was always prepared and he created that wonderful character," she said.
As buffoonish as the character was, Harper said there was always a great reality in it. Harper said the writers were originally considering a younger person to be a love interest for Moore. But Knight's audition won them over and the concept of the role was changed.
In a 1973 interview, Knight said Baxter was a combination of several broadcasters he had observed in the past. To prepare for the audition, Knight said he got a tan, bought a blazer and became Baxter. "They loved it," he said.
Mary Tyler Moore said once in an interview, "He made an essentially unlikable character lovable."
Obviously, his audience as well as his peers loved the character. Knight won two Emmys for his superior work during the show's sevenyear run. He later starred in "Too Close for Comfort," which ran from 19801983.
Harper also remembers the personal side of Knight's life. "He was generous, sweet and so much fun." She said he had a deeply solid family life.
Relatives said his house was filled with pictures of his six siblings and other relatives. Knight left behind his wife of over 30 years, two sons and a daughter.
Although a success in the television industry, Knight never forgot his Terryville roots, his many friends and Polish relatives who live in the area.
[A truck passes over the Ted Knight Bridge in Terryville]
Knight was a 1943 graduate of Terryville High School. He then entered the service and received five battle stars during World War II. After the war, he pursued a career in the theater.
Knight made several visits to Plymouth over the years. In 1976, he returned to be the Grand Marshal of the town's bicentennial parade.
Resident Jayne Slesicki's husband, Eugene, was the celebrity's longtime friend. Slesicki said she met Knight when he came for the bicentennial festivities. "He was very nice and he loved Terryville," she said. Marion Kovaleski knew Knight growing up and later married his cousin Joseph.
"We were very close to him," she said. She said he often visited from California.
Kovaleski remembers Knight as being friendly and having a beautiful smile. Friends knew he was destined for stardom.
Knight always said he'd never work in a factory, she said. "That wasn't his cup of tea."
In the fall of 1986, Kovaleski said, they had planned a trip out West to visit Knight, but he did not live that long. Instead, they visited his place of burial.
After his death, a bridge on Canal Street, which overlooks the Horseshoe Falls, was named in Knight's honor. There was a dedication ceremony and a bronze plaque was placed on the bridge.
Kovaleski said the valuable plaque was stolen shortly after the dedication. Now graffiti mars the concrete walls and nothing indicates that it is the Ted Knight Bridge.
"We thought it was terrible because it wasn't up there that long," Kovaleski said.
The gray house where Knight grew up is at 18 Allen St.. "He lived in our old apartment," 17yearold Justin Kalanquin said. His father, Sherman Kalanquin said he just recently found out that Knight lived in the secondfloor apartment.
"I knew he lived in Terryville, but I didn't know where," he added.
Harper said Knight was unscathed when he made the transition from smalltown boy to celebrity.
"They grow them good there," she said of Plymouth.
[The Herald Press, Sunday, August 31, 1997]