Don Knotts had already appeared in a half dozen movies by 1965, and he was riding high on the hit TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. But he really wanted to make it on the silver screen, and the only starring role he'd had so far was in The Incredible Mr. Limpet, which wasn't a hit. Besides, he was coming up on the end of his five-year contract with The Andy Griffith Show. He needed a hit film, and the only way to do it was to have creative control.
That hit was his first film for Universal, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. Knotts wielded his creative control by recruiting two writers from The Andy Griffith Show, convincing Griffith himself to work on the script, and repurposing a story from the TV show for the basic premise. Then he recruited the director from The Andy Griffith Show, too. The result was a movie that earned back five times its budget and got Knotts a five-year contract with Universal. Read how The Ghost and Mr. Chicken came about at Mental Floss.
(Image credit: Jerry)