The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

Synopsis
"Aw, Mr. Boob, that's me. B-double-O-B, BOOB!"

Everyone’s favorite scaredy-pants comedian Don Knotts returned to the big screen in 1965, starring in the comedy frightfest The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. Fittingly, the film was produced by Universal, the studio that built its horror reputation through classics like Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy (as well as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.)

Knotts stars as Luther Heggs, typesetter for a small-town paper. Luther has two goals in life: one, to make it as a real reporter; two, to make time with town beauty Alma Parker. The same man stands in the way of both goals: Ollie Weaver, star reporter and Alma’s boyfriend. Ollie and newspaper editor George Beckett cook up a plot sure to scare the edgy typesetter back into his place. Under the pretenses of giving Luther his shot at the big time, the two offer him a chance to write a real story, a report on his overnight stay at the supposedly haunted Old Simmons House.

Luther reluctantly agrees, spending a spooky night at the abandoned mansion, complete with a mysterious self-playing organ and a bleeding portrait. Luther’s story makes him a local hero, but a Simmons descendant sues for libel, forcing Luther and others to spend one more night at the creepy abode.

Putting Knotts in a haunted house was a stroke of genius, giving the master of bug-eyed nervousness ample opportunities to show his stuff. The actor’s decidedly un-Tim-Conway co-star was a former Playboy centerfold, Joan Staley. The film was the first installment in a five-picture deal Knotts had signed with Universal, and the gangly funnyman continued to skewer other genres in films like The Reluctant Astronaut and The Shakiest Gun in the West.

Release History 1965 - The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

Sub Categories live-action
comedy
horror

Studio Universal

Cast

Luther Heggs		Don Knotts
Alma Parker		Joan Staley
Kelsey		Liam Redmond
George Beckett		Dick Sargent
Ollie Weaver		Skip Homeier
Mrs. Halcyon Maxwell		Reta Shaw
Mrs. Natalie Miller		Lurene Tuttle
Nicholas Simmons		Philip Ober
Police Chief Art Fuller		Harry Hickox
Whitlow		Charles Lane
Mrs. Hutchinson		Jesslyn Fax
Mrs. Cobb		Nydia Westman
Judge Harley Nast		George Chandler
Springer		Robert Cornthwaite
Herkie		Jim Begg