Early roles During the postwar years, Knight studied acting in
Hartford, Connecticut. He became proficient with puppets and ventriloquism, which led to steady work as a television children's show host at
WJAR-TV in
Providence, Rhode Island from 1950 to 1955. In 1955, he left Providence for
Albany, New York, where he landed a job at station WROW-TV (now
WTEN), hosting
The Early Show, featuring MGM movies, and a children's variety show, playing a
Gabby Hayes-type character named "Windy Knight". He was also a radio announcer for sister station
WROW radio and briefly for WFNS in
Burlington, North Carolina. He left the station in 1957 after being turned down for a raise and receiving advice from station manager (and future
Capital Cities chairman)
Thomas Murphy that he should take his talents to
Hollywood. on
The Mary Tyler Moore Show Knight spent most of the 1950s and 1960s creating commercial voiceovers and playing minor television and film roles. In 1959 he played a part in the western TV show
The Lawman in the episode “The Ugly Man”. He had a small part playing a police officer guarding the room where Norman Bates sat wrapped in a blanket at the end of
Alfred Hitchcock's
Psycho (1960). He played Phil Buckley on the
ABC soap opera
The Young Marrieds in the early 1960s.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show ,
Georgia Engel, Ted Knight and
Mary Tyler Moore from
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1976) Knight's role as the vain and untalented WJM newscaster
Ted Baxter on
The Mary Tyler Moore Show brought widespread recognition and his greatest success. He received six
Emmy Award nominations for the role, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Comedy in 1973 and 1976.
Post-MTM appearances In 1975, Knight recorded an album of mostly novelty songs,
Hi Guys, on the Ranwood label. Knight guest-starred in "Mr. Dennis Steps Out", the October 26, 1977, episode of the situation comedy
Busting Loose, as Roger Dennis, the owner of an
escort service in New York City. This appearance launched a new show,
The Ted Knight Show, Knight's first starring role.
The Ted Knight Show lasted for only six episodes in the spring of 1978. Knight appeared in several episodes of
The Love Boat, including one episode as a rival cruise captain. Knight's final film role was in the 1980 golf comedy
Caddyshack, in which he played Judge Elihu Smails, a foil for
Rodney Dangerfield's character.
Too Close for Comfort Knight was cast in the lead role as the curmudgeonly cartoonist Henry Rush in the series
Too Close for Comfort in 1980. == Personal life ==