A good friendship doesn’t end just because you stop seeing each other every day. In a true friendship, you can rely on a pal, no matter the weather, no matter how difficult.

After starring in The Andy Griffith Show together for years, Andy Griffith and Don Knotts were as close as any two men could be.

During an interview with Women’s World, Karen Knotts, daughter of Don Knotts, praised Griffith. “He was very friendly to me,” said Knotts of Griffith. “It was like an uncle, but he had different sides to him. You could see that sometimes he would be intense, and other times, he was just very, very warm and endearing. He was very multifaceted.”

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The younger Knotts also used the interview to dispel any rumors fueling the idea that the two Andy Griffith actors held any animosity in their working relationship.

“One thing I will tell you, and one thing I differ with, is the idea that Andy was ever jealous of my dad,” said Karen Knotts. “If he was, he never let on to that. He was his biggest fan, he was his mentor. Everything that he was in, he wanted to get my dad in, too. He loved him more than his own self.”

In fact, Griffith’s devotion to Knotts didn’t end when Barney Fife left the series. Years later, when Griffith began starring in Matlock, he fought to get his buddy a guest spot in the series.

“Even when he was on Matlock and my dad wasn't working at that time, he went to the producers and said, ‘I want Don Knotts on the show.’” said Karen. “They said, ‘No. This show is a dramatic show; there's no part for a character comedian.’ He kept fighting and fighting, and then they put him on, but they didn't want to pay him anything, so Andy went to the mat and fought with them on that.”