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!

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!"