48 Fun Facts About Get Smart

Which two comedy writers created Get Smart?

Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created it for Talent Associates; Brooks called it 'an insane combination of James Bond and Mel Brooks comedy', while Henry stayed on as story editor after Brooks moved on.

Who played Maxwell Smart?

Don Adams, a Marine veteran of Guadalcanal turned nightclub comic, landed Max in 1965 and also directed a number of the episodes himself.

What is Maxwell Smart's code number?

86 is bar slang for cutting a customer off or throwing him out, and the creators borrowed it as the number for their bumbling agent.

Who played Agent 99?

Barbara Feldon had won the top prize on The $64,000 Question in 1957 with Shakespeare as her subject, and was modelling before she landed Agent 99.

What is the name of the secret US agency Smart and 99 work for?

CONTROL is the Washington, D.C. spy agency whose headquarters hides behind a phone booth with a secret elevator, reached through a corridor of slamming steel doors.

Which of these is NOT one of the show's famous catchphrases?

'Book 'em, Danno' belongs to Hawaii Five-O; 'Sorry about that, Chief', 'Missed it by that much' and 'Would you believe...' all entered the language through Get Smart.

On which network did Get Smart premiere in September 1965?

NBC aired the first four seasons from September 18, 1965; the show moved to CBS for its fifth and final season in 1969.

Which network first turned the show down as 'un-American', demanding a lovable dog and Max's mother?

Brooks fumed that 'Max has no mother. He never had one.' The dog, Fang, made it in anyway.

How many episodes of Get Smart were made over its five seasons?

138 episodes aired between the premiere in September 1965 and the finale on May 15, 1970, across five seasons on two networks.

Who played the Chief?

Edward Platt, previously the juvenile officer in Rebel Without a Cause, played the Chief, a former field agent whose code name had been Q.

What is the Chief's first name?

Thaddeus is the Chief's real first name, revealed on the show; with outsiders he uses the cover identity Harold Clark, which the agents know is not real.

Where does Max keep his most famous concealed telephone?

In his shoe: Max has to take the shoe off to answer the phone and dial on its sole, a gag Brooks and Henry built as a spoof of James Bond's gadgets.

Where does Agent 99 hide one of her concealed phones?

She pretends to bite her nails nervously while actually talking; her makeup compact hides another one.

What is the joke behind the Cone of Silence?

Those inside can't hear, everyone outside can: the plastic dome muffles the two men under it while their shouted secrets carry across the office, and Max keeps insisting on it anyway.

Which car does Max drive most often in the series?

A red Sunbeam Tiger, the Ford V8-powered version of the Sunbeam Alpine, is the car Max drives in the opening of the first two seasons and in many episodes.

Why does Max drive a VW Karmann Ghia in the opening credits of seasons three and four?

The carmaker became a sponsor: Volkswagen's sponsorship put its Karmann Ghia in the titles, and when Buick took over for season five the car became a gold Opel GT.

Who played the recurring KAOS villain Siegfried?

Bernie Kopell played Siegfried with a mock-German accent, later played Doc Bricker on The Love Boat through its 1977-86 run, and has a cameo in the 2008 film.

What is the name of Siegfried's henchman, played by King Moody?

Starker, the henchman Siegfried bellows at as 'Shtarker', takes his name from the Yiddish for a strongman or tough guy, with a hint of dim-wittedness.

Which actor played Hymie the Robot?

Dick Gautier played Hymie, the robot built by the enemy whom Max wins over on his first mission; Hymie's flaw is taking every instruction far too literally.

Which of Max's colleagues is always stationed inside absurdly small hiding places like cigarette machines?

Agent 13, played by Dave Ketchum, pops up from cigarette machines, mailboxes and washing machines; Agent 44 did the same job in season one and returned in season five.

Larabee, the Chief's dim assistant, was played by Robert Karvelas, who was Don Adams's what?

Cousin: Karvelas was the star's cousin, and Adams kept him on as the Chief's assistant Larabee through most of the series; Adams's brother also turned up in episodes.

What does Agent 99 give birth to in the final season?

Twins, a boy and a girl, arrive in the fifth season after 99's pregnancy was written into the show; the two-part episode 'And Baby Makes Four' covers their birth.

How many consecutive Emmys did Don Adams win for playing Maxwell Smart?

Three: Adams took the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 1967, 1968 and 1969.

Adams borrowed Max's voice and "Would you believe...?" routine from which earlier role as an inept hotel detective?

Byron Glick on The Bill Dana Show was the bumbling house detective Adams played from 1963 to 1965, already using the clipped William Powell-style delivery and the 'Would you believe' bit.

Which animated bungling cyborg detective did Don Adams later voice in a near-identical voice?

Inspector Gadget, the 1983 cartoon, gave Adams another signature role in the same clipped tones; he also voiced the dog Brain in the 1999 live-action film.

The actress who played 99 nearly lost the role because of what?

The show's sponsor was a deodorant soap; her big break had been a much-parodied Revlon 'Top Brass' hair-pomade advert.

Which talk-show host appeared as a 'special guest conductor' in the episode 'Aboard the Orient Express'?

Johnny Carson, then hosting The Tonight Show, played the conductor and came back as a royal footman in 'The King Lives?'; Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Phyllis Diller also did cameos.

Where did Max supposedly disappear to during 'Ice Station Siegfried'?

It's the only episode where the character is close to absent.

What was the title of the 1980 theatrical Get Smart film, made without Brooks or Henry?

The Nude Bomb has the enemy threatening a bomb that destroys only clothing; Agent 99 does not appear, and the film was retitled The Return of Maxwell Smart for television.

Max's dog, Agent K-13, is better known by what name?

Fang, Agent K-13, was a shaggy, unhelpful dog on the agency payroll in the first season, usually more trouble than help to Max.

In the 1995 Fox revival, who played Max and 99's bumbling son Zach?

Andy Dick played Zach, with Max now running the agency and 99 a congresswoman; the Fox revival was cancelled after a handful of episodes in early 1995.

Who played Maxwell Smart in the 2008 film?

Steve Carell played Max opposite Anne Hathaway as 99, Alan Arkin as the Chief and Dwayne Johnson as Agent 23; the film grossed about $230 million worldwide.

In the 2008 film, Max starts out at the agency doing what job?

Analyst: Max passes the field-agent exam but the Chief keeps him at his desk because his reports are too valuable, until an attack on headquarters exposes the other agents' identities.

Where did TV Guide's 2010 readers' poll rank Get Smart's door-filled opening titles?

Second place went to the walk through slamming doors to the phone booth in TV Guide's 2010 reader-chosen list of top credit sequences; The Simpsons has parodied it in couch gags.

Which comedian's ad-libbing with Don Adams in "The Little Black Book" turned the episode into a two-parter?

Don Rickles, a friend of Adams, guest-starred as Sid Krimm and the two ad-libbed so much that 'The Little Black Book' was cut into two parts; dialogue was otherwise rarely improvised.

Which frequent extra, producer Leonard Stern's real aunt, appeared in at least 44 episodes?

Rose Michtom, an elderly extra fans nicknamed 'Aunt Rose', turns up in the background of dozens of episodes, a family in-joke of producer Leonard Stern.

Which comic-book artist drew several issues of Dell's Get Smart comic in 1966-67?

Steve Ditko, fresh from co-creating Spider-Man, drew several issues of the Dell comic; William Johnston wrote a run of tie-in novels for Tempo Books.

Where did TV Guide rank Maxwell Smart on its 1999 list of the 50 Greatest TV Characters?

19th is where Maxwell Smart landed on TV Guide's 1999 list of the 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time; Adams played him in every episode of the original run.

Get Smart's 'laser blazer' concealed a laser weapon where?

In a jacket button: the laser blazer fires from a button on Max's sport coat, one of many gadgets that rarely worked, like the invisible wall Max kept walking into.

Which actor played Agent 44, the hiding-place agent of season one?

Victor French, later Mr. Edwards on Little House on the Prairie, played Agent 44 in the first season, folded into mailboxes and lockers before another agent took over the gag.

Who composed the Get Smart theme and conducted the music for the show's entire run?

Irving Szathmary wrote the brassy march that plays under the door-slamming titles and scored the series for its five seasons.

Where did Get Smart rank in the Nielsen ratings in its first season?

12th was the show's Nielsen finish for its debut 1965-66 season, the highest it ever reached; it slipped to 22nd the following year.

How many Emmy Awards did Get Smart win?

Seven Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 1968 and 1969 and Adams's lead-actor wins; it was nominated for 14 more and for two Golden Globes.

Producer Daniel Melnick asked Brooks and Henry to create a show capitalising on James Bond and which other character?

Inspector Clouseau, Peter Sellers's bumbling Pink Panther detective, and James Bond were, Henry recalled Melnick saying, 'the two biggest things in the entertainment world today'.

Where were the first four NBC seasons of Get Smart filmed?

Sunset Bronson Studios on Sunset Boulevard, the old Warner Bros. lot, housed the production for the first four seasons; the final CBS season moved to CBS Studio Center.

Who directed the most episodes of Get Smart?

Bruce Bilson directed the second-most; Don Adams himself directed 13 episodes and wrote two.

In the 1995 revival, who played Agent 66?

Elaine Hendrix, later the scheming fiancée in The Parent Trap remake, played Agent 66, the competent partner to Zach Smart in the 1995 series.

In which episode did the Cone of Silence first appear?

The pilot, 'Mr. Big', introduced the Cone of Silence; Michael Dunn played the diminutive villain of the title, and the episode aired on September 18, 1965.