HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AGENT 99!

Barbara Feldon (born Barbara Anne Hall; March 12, 1933) is an American actress primarily known for her roles on television. Her most prominent role was that of Agent 99 in the 1965–1970 sitcom Get Smart.

Would you believe Barbara Feldon is 91 years young today, March 12, 2024?  I confess I had a big crush on her from the very first time I saw her on TV, which was not in her debut as 99 on the GET SMART show but rather as Mandy Stevenson on another spy series: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

IMDb and WIKIPEDIA can offer you her entire biography and career filmography so I won't dwell into that. All I can say is that Barbara Feldon had the most beautiful and tantalizing eyes I had ever seen and she stole my heart from the very moment I saw her on my TV set. Today, I am thankfully glad she's still with us, although the chance of meeting her in person is extremely remote since she lives in New York and from what I've read, she's a very private and laid back person nowadays. Anyway, I am happy to visit her via my DVD collection...and loving it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARBARA FELDON AND LONG LIVE AGENT 99!

The GET SMART comic books!

 On September 18 in 1965, TV comedy GET SMART created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and starring Don Adams as agent Maxwell Smart (Agent 86), Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, and Edward Platt as The Chief premiered.Get Smart immediately won over audiences with its witty satire of the secret agent genre. Starring Don Adams as bumbling spy Maxwell Smart, aka Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as his brilliant partner Agent 99, Get Smart followed their laugh-out-loud misadventures as they battled the evil forces of KAOS. Created by comedy legends Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart was an instant hit thanks to its slapstick humor, clever spy parodies, catchphrases like “Missed it by that much!”, and gadgets like the famous shoe phone. For 5 seasons, Get Smart kept viewers in hysterics every week with Agent 86’s hilarious attempts at espionage, close calls with danger, and comical interactions with The Chief (Edward Platt). Now over 50 years later, Get Smart remains one of the most beloved and iconic sitcoms of all time. Its legacy lives on through syndicated reruns and an enduring comedic influence still felt today. 

In 1966, GET SMART was published as a comic book by Dell Publishing Co. 

These are the covers plus an ad for Aurora Model Motoring cars 

which appeared on the back cover of several other issues as well.

Maxwell Smart, the Spy Who Amused Me

 During the 1960's spy craze, I was an impressionable teenager who dreamt of having cloak-and-dagger type adventures in the style of my hero, James Bond 007, the debonair secret agent with a license to kill as portrayed by Sean Connery.  And so, I became exactly like James Bond!  Well, would you believe, more like Maxwell Smart?  That's right!  In reality, I always wound up goofing up in the manner of another equally famous secret agent: Maxwell Smart, agent 86 of CONTROL.

While most actors work at trying to be as versatile as possible in order to tackle a wide variety of roles, others get stereotyped and become identified with a single character throughout their entire careers. 

But far from such a condition being harmful, in some cases it becomes a blessing in more ways than one. 

Case in point, actor Don Adams, who will forever be remembered as Maxwell Smart from the 1960s TV show GET SMART!

Adams became so identified with Agent 86 that he couldn't break the connection and was seriously hindered in his attempts to pursue other roles during his career. He ended playing basically the same character, under different names all throughout his on-screen life. 

However, while most other actors from those bygone days have become nearly forgotten, Don Adams is still recognized even by today's younger generation as one of the greatest comedy characters of all time, along with such staples as Herman Munster, Samantha Stevens, Gilligan, Morticia Addams, Agent 99, Inspector Clouseau, Pee Wee Herman, Frank Drebin, Mr. Bean and a choice few others like them. 

Thusly, even if Maxwell Smart was his only memorable role, Don Adams forever will remain as one of the most recognizable and beloved icons to come out of TV's golden era of comedy shows.

Today we remember him on the date he left this mortal world and passed over to join CONTROL's branch in Heaven, always ready to fight the evil plottings of KAOS, that nefarious crime outfit of badness.

You can be sure that, throughout the ages, we shall always hear Agent 86's immortal words:

"SORRY ABOUT THAT, CHIEF!"

GET SMART!

Barbara Feldon was born March 12, 1933 in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania and as we wish her a happy birthday, we also remember her memorable appearance as Agent 99 in the TV series GET SMART!

GET SMART! was a television series which ran on NBC from 1965 to 1969 and on ABC from 1969 to 1970. The series was intended as a parody on the very popular James Bond films of the sixties. It starred comedian Don Adams as bungling agent 86 Maxwell Smart, Barbara Feldon as beautiful and sexy agent 99 and Edward Platt as Thaddeus, the Chief of CONTROL, a fictional U.S. secret counterintelligence organization based in Washington D.C. 

The series was created and written by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. 

More details on the series can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Smart

DON ADAMS

Edward Platt as the CHIEF of Control.

"Missed it by that much!"

Ron Moody and Bernie Kopell as Siegfried and Shtarker, Maxwell Smart's eternal nemesis.

 

Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot agent.

Robert Karvelas, (Don Adams' cousin in real life) played Larrabee, another bumbling CONTROL agent .

Robert Karvelas, David Ketchum (Agent 13), Don Adams and Dick Gautier during the reunion TV movie GET SMART AGAIN! (1989)

Don Adams & Barbara Feldon with agent K-13, Fang the dog.

One of several TV GUIDE covers featuring the series.

Barbara Feldon

Agent 99

Smart and Siegfried

One of my favorite photos of Agent 99 and Max.

            

         Don Adams and Barbara Feldon reunite!           Barbara Feldon in her later years, still beautiful!

Barbara Feldon as Mandy Stevenson and Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo in "The Never-Never Affair" episode of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. which aired on March 22, 1965.

Lovely Agent 99, whose real name was never revealed.

GET SMART was one of my favorite comedy shows back in the 60s and I revisit the series often thanks to the Time/Life HBO DVD boxed set from 2006. I never get tired of the gags and the recurring catchphrases, most of which became part of popular lexicon. And on this day of feminism and the #MeToo movement, it is surprising the respectful and self reliant way Barbara Feldon's character is handled in the series. She's actually the smartest character in the show and her agent 99 became a role model for many female members of the audience who, to this day, worship and admire her resourcefulness and ingenuity. Needless to say, I've always had a crush on Barbara.

And GET SMART! will always remain one of my all-time favorite comedy series, the likes of which have never been replicated since.