Sorry about that, Chief.

LOS ANGELES - Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s television spoof of James Bond movies, “Get Smart,” has died. He was 82.

Adams died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said Monday, adding the actor broke his hip a year ago and had been in ill health since.

As the inept Agent 86 of the super-secret federal agency C.O.N.T.R.O.L., Adams captured TV viewers with his antics in combatting the evil agents of C.H.A.O.S. When his explanations failed to convince the villains or his boss, he tried another tack: “Would you believe ... ?” It became a national catchphrase.

Smart was also prone to spilling things on the desk or person of his boss—the chief (actor Edward Platt). Smart’s apologetic “Sorry about that, chief” also entered the American lexicon. The spy gadgets, which aped those of the Bond movies, were a popular feature, especially the pre-cell-phone telephone in a shoe.

Smart’s beautiful partner, Agent 99, played by Barbara Felden, was as brainy as he was dense, and a plot romance led to marriage and the birth of twins later in the series.

Adams, who had been under contract to NBC, was lukewarm about doing a spy spoof. When he learned that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry had written the pilot script, he accepted immediately. “Get Smart” debuted on NBC in September 1965 and scored No. 12 among the season’s most-watched series and No. 22 in its second season.

“Get Smart” twice won the Emmy for best comedy series with three Emmys for Adams as comedy actor.

Survivor of Guadalcanal, voice of Inspector Gadget
CBS picked up the show but the ratings fell off as the jokes seemed repetitive, and it was canceled after four seasons. The show lived on in syndication and a cartoon series. In 1995 Fox network revived the series with Smart as chief and 99 as a congresswoman.  It lasted seven episodes.

Adams never had another showcase to display his comic talent.

“It was a special show that became a cult classic of sorts, and I made a lot of money for it,” he remarked of “Get Smart” in a 1995 interview. “But it also hindered me career-wise because I was typed. The character was so strong, particularly because of that distinctive voice, that nobody could picture me in any other type of role.”

He was born Donald James Yarmy in New York City on April 13, 1926, Tufeld said, although some sources say 1923 or 1927. The actor’s father was a Hungarian Jew who ran a few small restaurants in the Bronx.

In a 1959 interview Adams said he never cared about being funny as a kid: “Sometimes I wonder how I got into comedy at all. I did movie star impressions as a kid in high school. Somehow they just got out of hand.”

In 1941, he dropped out of school to join the Marines, lying about his age. In Guadalcanal he survived the deadly blackwater fever and was returned to the States to become a drill instructor, acquiring the clipped delivery that served him well as a comedian.

After the war he worked in New York as a commercial artist by day, doing standup comedy in clubs at night, taking the surname of his first wife, Adelaide Adams. His following grew, and soon he was appearing on the Ed Sullivan and late night TV shows. Bill Dana, who had helped him develop comedy routines, cast him as his sidekick on Dana’s Jose Jiminez show. That led to the NBC contract and “Get Smart.”

Adams, who married and divorced three times and had seven children, served as the voice for the popular cartoon series, “Inspector Gadget.” In 1980, he appeared as Maxwell Smart in a feature movie, “The Nude Bomb,” about a madman whose bomb destroyed people’s clothing.

Tufeld said funeral arrangements were incomplete.

R.I.P. Agent 86

RIP Devil Dog.

Man, all of the actors/actresses that I grew up are all dieing left and right. I must be getting old.

"would you believe......?" (Something rediculous)

R.I.P. Max.

'Missed it by thaaaat much.'

Sad to read this news. Funny guy, and a show that will live on and on.

Quoted: RIP Devil Dog.

+1.

Semper Fi, Marine.  You Guadalcanal Marines were something else.

I think we should observe a Cone of Silence:




CWO

BTW: Edward Platt who plays the Chief, died of a heart attack in 1974.

And also the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo,
a small penguin who tries but can't succeedo...


Don will be missed.  RIP, Max.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo.....

go go gadget angel wings!

RIP Marine

One of my very favorites... sorry to read this.

I asked you not to tell me that!

Who played Agent 99?  Barbara Feldon?

one tough bastige!

I liked that damn show :(

RIP sir!

a drill instructor, acquiring the clipped delivery that served him well as a comedian

He lived a long life.

That's the second worst news I've heard today.

Max was GREAT

Quoted: Who played Agent 99?  Barbara Feldon?

Yep, and the last time I saw her in an interview she still was an attractive lady...

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2693/craw26ko.jpg

"Not da Craw, da CRAW!"

I read somewhere years ago that he was put in the 'dying' triage pile at Guadacanal. They were about to move him into the 'dead' pile and he said to the medicos, "I'm not dead.......yet."

Blackwater fever, huh?

I loved that show, but I never knew he was a WWII Vet.  

86 86ed at 82

Quoted: Quoted: Who played Agent 99?  Barbara Feldon? Yep, and the last time I saw her in an interview she still was an attractive lady...

See here for her bio:
Barbara Feldon
There are no recent pics of her, but some publicitiy shots when she play Agent 99 on Get Smart.

If anyone hears of a Maxwell Smart marothon of the show please post time and channel!
excellent show!

Good guy, good show. RIP  In the 67- 68 era Army " sorry about that " was the one prefect expression. I think it was " sin loi " or something that sounded a lot like that in Vietnamese.

"Would you believe I'm dead?"

Sad day.

Quoted: I loved that show, but I never knew he was a WWII Vet.

+1

I loved that show, its still fun to watch.

I never heard about him being a vet, but then, it was no big deal back in the sixtys, because pretty much everyone over 35 was a WWII vet and no one really talked about it.

R.I.P Agent 86

Say Hi to Gilligan.

DON ADAMS

Article from: "Don Adams:  I Believe Prayer Alone Saved My Life in 1943"
The National Enquirer.

When you're only 16 and waiting to die --- you're scared," TV star Don Adams  told The ENQUIRER.

It was 1943.  Adams, who had enlisted in the Marines, had caught blackwater fever on Guadalcanal in the South Pacific.

After being flown to a hospital in Wellington, New Zealand, I was told nothing much could be done for me, he recalled. I was just left to die.

That's when I started praying.  I prayed night and day that my life might be spared.

Five days later I woke to find the fever and all its symptoms completely disappeared.

Before that my body was so badly bloated that it was more than twice its normal size.  The doctors had not scientific explanation for what seemed a miraculous recovery.  Logic told them I should have died.

Today there are no physical indications that I ever suffered from such an ordeal.
It is as though I never had blackwater fever.

I believe that it was prayer and prayer alone that saved my life.
At a time like that I knew the only help I could expect would be from God.
He was my only hope for survival.

Since that time I've been convinced someone up there is watching over every one of us.
Miracles have only one origin.  

Article from: Would You Believe....Don Adams? By Tom Burke New York Times,  
from September 28, 1969, page D21.  

You know, the American male doesn't really make a good solider. He's too independent, doesn't like to take orders. One reason the German solider was one of history's best was his discipline, his strong nationalistic feels, his pride in himself as a warrior.

The Marine Corps is like the German Army because they drain every bit of individuality out of you, then instill a discipline so strong that it holds up anywhere. In combat, that's vital, because you stand and fight no matter how scared you are. You will never disgrace the Marine uniform. That's what makes a really good fighting man.    

At this point, naturally, the war in Vietnam comes up. Don Adams smokes again, looking deeply concerned.

"I'm, um, torn by two feelings about it. We're there to honor a treaty and prevent the spread of Communism. All right, so we know that Communism will spread in Southeast Asia, no matter what we do. But, do we just pull out? I recently visited hospitals, amputee wards and spoke to veterans. Their morale is marvelous. I came away from them with an entirely different view of the war. I mean, can all those lives, those millions of dollars, be spent for nothing? When I was in Hawaii, I was invited to the war room there, as a guest. You would not believe it! You would not believe the facts and figures, what we've put into Vietnam. If we pulled out now, you don't know what we would leave. They've cleared swamps, built airbases..."    

He pauses eventually. He is hardly a fanatic, only a loyal ex-Marine who perhaps learned the lesson of the Corps too well, and one refrains from suggest that the Vietnamese may well prefer a swamp to an airbase.

(Fucking liberal reporter piece of shit)

Don Adams will be missed.
BTW Get Smart's writers were Mel Brooks & Buck Henry.
Great show great staff too. Himey the robot was classic.

Noooooooooo!

On board the USS Yorktown for a Get Smart TV show.