Ted Knight, born Tadeusz Konopka, is the polish-American actor who found his share of celebrity in the role of the clueless anchor man on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."
Before reaching the level of celebrity, Knight did commercials and character acting in a few movies and in such TV shows as "The Wild, Wild West," "The Virginian," "Bonanza," The Fugitive," and "Gunsmoke."
Somehow his acting talents were a perfect fit for the hilariously shallow, inept news anchor Ted Baxter on Mary Tyler Moore's series, which ran from 1970 to 1977. His performance was a superb one-man satire directed at news anchors, whose appearance is often more important than their journalistic acumen.
Later, Knight played a cartoonist in the show "Too Close for Comfort," but his place in TV viewers' memory is mainly from his portrayal of Ted Baxter. Knight died of complications from surgery in 1986 at age 62.
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