Wilton Knight

Wilton Knight is a fictional industrialist and a minor character in the Knight Rider television franchise. Played by actor Richard Basehart, he was introduced in the two-part series premiere, "Knight of the Phoenix".

Biography
Wilton Knight was a self-made millionaire and the founder and CEO of Knight Industries, as well as its subsidiary, F.L.A.G. (Foundation for Law and Government). He was married to a woman named Elizabeth and had two children, Garthe and Jennifer.

Knight Industries specialized in advanced research in the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering. It was responsible for the development of the Knight Automated Roving Robot, aka, K.A.R.R., which was modified Pontiac Trans Am with a molecularly bonded shell and an onboard artificial intelligence. Though spearheaded by Wilton Knight, the chief engineer on the development of K.A.R.R. was Charles Graiman. However, a programming error made the computer intelligence unstable and potentially dangerous. The project was put on hold and the car was placed in storage until a solution could be found.

Wilton Knight went back to the drawing board and redesigned the project with the Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T.), which was conceived by Wilton Knight himself. Although the car's A.I. was originally put into use for the United States government in Washington, D.C., Wilton saw a better use for it and had it installed in K.I.T.T. to make it the ultimate crime-fighting super-car.

Through the Foundation for Law and Government, Knight Industries took an active role in providing services for those in need. Foundation administrator Devon Miles had an active hand in the recruitment of a former detective named Michael Long who, after suffering a near-fatal accident), was given a new face and a new identity. He was renamed Michael Knight. On his deathbed, Wilton Knight pronounced this "lone crusader" as the driver of K.I.T.T., punctuating his wishes with the belief that "one man can make a difference".

Notes & Trivia



 * Actor Richard Basehart only made two on-screen appearances in the series, which were in both installments of the series premiere, "Knight of the Phoenix". He is also the narrator on the series, and can be heard in the opening voiceover to every episode.


 * Actor Richard Basehart is also known for playing the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson on the 1960s Irwin Allen adventure series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.