Edward Montagne directed The Reluctant Astronaut, a comedy film, 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 TV 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 films with Universal Pictures.
The Reluctant Astronaut followed Knotts’ first Universal film, “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” (1966).
Actor Paul Hartman, who appears in the film, would later star in The Andy Griffith Show.
The screenplay writers Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum had served as teleplay writers for the TV series.
The Reluctant Astronaut premiered on January 25, 1967 at Houston, Texas, just 2 days before the Apollo 1 tragedy that killed 3 astronauts at the LC-34 pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS).
According to Knotts’ 1998 autobiography, the tragic Apollo 1 fire led to Universal being skeptical about releasing a comedy on space travel so soon after the tragedy.
Not as popular as his first film ventures, The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), due to its connection to the Apollo program, The Reluctant Astronaut still was a popular children’s film and was frequently shown on weekend afternoons.
Cast
Don Knotts as kiddie-ride operator Roy Fleming
Leslie Nielsen as Major Fred Gifford
Joan Freeman as Roy’s girlfriend Ellie Jackson
Arthur O’Connell as Roy’s father Buck Fleming
Frank McGrath as Buck’s friend Plank
Paul Hartman as Buck’s friend Rush
Jeanette Nolan as Roy’s mother Mrs. Fleming
Robert F. Simon as Cervantes
Burt Mustin as Ned (uncredited)
Jesse White as Space Center janitorial supervisor Donelli
