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The Reluctant Astronaut is a 1967 Universal Pictures feature film produced and directed by Edward Montagne and starring Don Knotts in a story about a carnival ride operator who is hired as a janitor at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston and is eventually sent into space.
Comedian Knotts had won several Emmy Awards as small-town comic sheriff's deputy Barney Fife in the 1960-1968 television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show but left the show as a regular at the end of its fifth season (1964–1965) to pursue a career in feature films with Universal Pictures. The Reluctant Astronaut followed Knotts' first Universal film venture, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966). Actor Paul Hartman appears in the film and would later star in The Andy Griffith Show. The film's screenplay writers Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum had served as teleplay writers for the television series.
Original Release
06/14/1967
US Release
06/14/1967
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Don Knotts | Roy Fleming |
Leslie Nielsen | Major Fred Gifford |
Jesse White | Donelli |
Jeanette Nolan | Mrs. Fleming |
Frank McGrath | Plank |
Arthur O'Connell | Buck Fleming / Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming |
Joan Shawlee | Blonde in Bar |
Guy Raymond | Bert |
Nydia Westman | Aunt Zana |
Paul Hartman | Rush |
Directors
Writers
James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Don Knotts | Roy Fleming |
Leslie Nielsen | Major Fred Gifford |
Jesse White | Donelli |
Jeanette Nolan | Mrs. Fleming |
Frank McGrath | Plank |
Arthur O'Connell | Buck Fleming / Arbuckle "Buck" Fleming |
Joan Shawlee | Blonde in Bar |
Guy Raymond | Bert |
Nydia Westman | Aunt Zana |
Paul Hartman | Rush |
Robert F. Simon | Cervantes |
Robert Pickering | Moran |
Budd Albright | Officer |
Thomas Bellin | Technician |
Marjorie Bennett | Sweetwater Citizen at Mailbox / Woman at Mailbox |
Jim Boles | Bartender |
Paul Bradley | Engineer |
Loie Bridge | Frieda Wilcox |
Paul Bryar | First Bus Driver |
Ceil Cabot | Waitress |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Billy Sands | Producer |
Edward Montagne | Producer |