Don Adams
Encyclopedia
Don Adams was an American actor, comedian
and director
. In his five decades on television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the television situation comedy
Get Smart
(1965–1970, 1995), which he also sometimes directed and wrote. Adams won three consecutive Emmy Award
s for his portrayal of Smart (1967–1969). He provided the voices for the animated series Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
(1963–1966) and Inspector Gadget
(1983–1986) as their title characters. He voiced Sid Pickles in all episodes of Spike & Mike
(1993–1999), and two follow up films, Spike & Mike Movie
and Spike and Mike: Got Hostaged
.
, son of William Yarmy and his wife Consuelo Dieter. His father, a restaurant manager, was Hungarian and Jewish and his mother was Irish and Roman Catholic. Adams and his brother (actor Dick Yarmy) were each raised in the religion of one parent: Don in the Catholic faith of their mother, and Dick in the Jewish faith of their father.
Dropping out of New York City
's DeWitt Clinton High School
, Adams worked as a theater usher. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
in 1941 together with his twin-brother cousins, William and Robert Karvelas
. The three were assigned to the Third Marines in Samoa
until Adams was sent as a replacement to the Battle of Guadalcanal, where he was the only survivor of his platoon. His survival, despite his company's near 90% fatality rate, was due to his contracting blackwater fever
early in the campaign. He was evacuated and spent over a year in a Navy hospital in Wellington, New Zealand. After his recovery, he served as a Marine drill instructor
in the United States.
Following his discharge, Adams held a series of jobs. During a Canadian television interview, he said that he had faked college credentials and an engineering background to be hired as an engineer designing underground sewers. His lack of training was not discovered for six months.
He later worked as a comic, taking the stage name of Adams after marrying singer Adelaide (Dell) Efantis, who performed as Adelaide Adams. They had four daughters, and Adams also worked as a commercial artist and restaurant cashier to help support his family. When they divorced, he kept Adams as his stage name because acting auditions were often held in alphabetical order.
with a stand-up comedy act written by boyhood friend Bill Dana. In addition to appearing on numerous comedy, variety, and dramatic series, Adams had a role on the NBC sitcom The Bill Dana Show
(1963–1965), as a bumbling hotel detective
named Byron Glick — a character Adams created that was the precursor to the role he would play as "Maxwell Smart" on Get Smart
. (The hotel manager was played by Jonathan Harris
who later did a guest role on Get Smart in 1970.)
and Buck Henry
, prompted by producers Dan Melnick and David Susskind
, wrote Get Smart
as the comedic answer to the successful 1960s spy
television
dramas such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
, The Avengers
, I Spy and others. They were asked to write a spoof that combined elements from two of the most popular film series at the time: the James Bond
and Pink Panther (Inspector Clouseau) movies.
Get Smart had been written for Tom Poston
, to be piloted on CBS; when CBS turned it down, the show was picked up by NBC, which cast Adams in the role because he was already under contract. When Get Smart debuted in 1965, it was an immediate hit. Barbara Feldon co-starred as Max's young and attractive partner (later wife), Agent 99, where she had a great chemistry with Adams, throughout the show's run, despite a 10-year age difference.
Adams gave the character a clipped, unique speaking style. Feldon said, "Part of the pop fervor for Agent 86, was because Don did such an extreme portrayal of the character that it made it easy to imitate." Adams created many popular catch-phrases (some of which were in his act prior to the show), including "Sorry about that, Chief", , "Ahh ... the old [noun] in the [noun] trick. That's the [number]th time this [month/week]." (Sometimes the description of the trick was simply, "Ahh... the old [noun] trick."), and "Missed it by 'that much.'" These helped make the series a hit in over 100 countries.
In addition to acting, Adams also produced and directed several episodes of the show. Off the set, he occasionally feuded with Jay Sandrich
, who served as writer. He was nominated for Emmys four seasons in a row, between 1966 and 1969, for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series. He won the award three times. The show moved to CBS for its final season, with ratings declining as spy series went out of fashion. Get Smart was canceled in 1970, after 138 episodes.
(1971–1972), a self-titled game show called Don Adams' Screen Test (1975–1976) and three attempts to revive the Get Smart series in the 1980s. Even his movie, The Nude Bomb
, was a box-office failure. Adams had been typecast as Maxwell Smart and unable to escape the image, though he did have success as the voice of Inspector Gadget
.
He earned most of his income from his work on stage and in nightclubs. As Adams had chosen a low salary combined with a one-third ownership stake in Get Smart during the show's production, he received a regular income for many years due to the show's popularity in reruns.
was a syndicated game show which lasted 26 episodes during the 1975–1976 season. The show was done in two 15-minute segments, in each of which a randomly selected audience member would 'act' to re-create a scene from a Hollywood movie as accurately as possible. Such moments as the bar scene from The Lost Weekend, the duel scene from The Prisoner of Zenda
or the beach scene from From Here to Eternity
were used, with Adams directing and a celebrity guest playing the other lead in the scene. Hokey effects, bad timing, forgotten lines, prop failures and the celebrity's "ad libs" were maximized for comic effect as the audience watched "bloopers" and "outtakes" as they happened. At the end of the program, the final, serious, fully edited version of the "screen test" of each of the two contestants would be played, with audience reaction determining the winner, who would receive a trip to Hollywood and a real screen test for a motion picture.
Adams was the voice of the title character in Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
(1963–1966), but he was more famous as the voice of Inspector Gadget
in the initial run of that television series (1983–1986) and the Christmas special, as well as in later reprises; he even voiced himself in animated form for a guest shot in an episode of Hanna-Barbera
's The New Scooby-Doo Movies
, "The Exterminator," which first aired on CBS
October 6, 1973.
Starting in 1982, Adams resurrected the Maxwell Smart character for a series of television commercials for Savemart, a retail chain that sold audio and video equipment.
He attempted a situation-comedy comeback in Canada
with Check it Out! in 1985; the show ran for three years in Canada, but it was not successful in the United States. The show also starred Gordon Clapp
, an unknown star at the time, who developed a rapport with Adams. In an A&E Biography, Adams said that he made more money working on the series, better than on Get Smart. He reprised his Maxwell Smart role on Get Smart
for Fox
in 1995, which co-starred Barbara Feldon and rising star Andy Dick
as Max's & 99's only son. Unlike the original version, this show did not appeal to younger viewers and it was canceled after only seven episodes. He later went on to voice the character of Principal Hickley in the late-1990s/early-2000s Disney
cartoon, Pepper Ann
.
In 2003, Adams joined a Get Smart tribute at the Museum of Television and Radio. Also appearing at the convention were surviving stars of Get Smart: Barbara Feldon, Bernie Kopell
and Dick Gautier.
Adams stated in interviews that his famous "clippy" voice characterization was an exaggeration of the speaking style of actor William Powell
. Occasionally, he also enjoyed doing a more explicit impersonation of Ronald Colman
.
Adams was the voice of Brain the Dog in the end credits for the film version of Inspector Gadget
in 1999.
Adams was an avid gambler; according to his longtime friend Bill Dana, "He could be very devoted to his family if you reminded him about it, [but] Don's whole life was focused around gambling."
in Los Angeles
, California
from a lung infection. Before he died, he joked about not wanting a mournful funeral, preferring, he said, to have his friends get together "and bring me back to life." Among his eulogists were his decades-long friends Barbara Feldon, Don Rickles
, James Caan
, and Bill Dana, and his son-in-law, actor Jim Beaver
(widower of Adams's actress-daughter Cecily Adams
). Although Adams had expressed a desire to be buried with military rites at Arlington National Cemetery
, he was instead interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery
in Hollywood, California. His non-military funeral mass was held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Adams was survived by three of his four daughters from his first marriage, two children from his second marriage, and a daughter from his third marriage; he was also survived by five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. In his five decades on television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the television situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
(1965–1970, 1995), which he also sometimes directed and wrote. Adams won three consecutive Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s for his portrayal of Smart (1967–1969). He provided the voices for the animated series Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales is a popular, semi-educational animated cartoon TV series that originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1966. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that produced the earlier King Leonardo and the later Underdog, and primarily sponsored by General Mills...
(1963–1966) and Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget is an animated television series that revolves around the adventures of a clumsy, simple-witted cyborg detective named Inspector Gadget – a human being with various bionic gadgets built into his body. Gadget's arch-nemesis is Dr...
(1983–1986) as their title characters. He voiced Sid Pickles in all episodes of Spike & Mike
Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation
Spike & Mike's is a collection of short animated films which annually tours theaters, film festivals, and college campuses in North America...
(1993–1999), and two follow up films, Spike & Mike Movie
Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation
Spike & Mike's is a collection of short animated films which annually tours theaters, film festivals, and college campuses in North America...
and Spike and Mike: Got Hostaged
Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation
Spike & Mike's is a collection of short animated films which annually tours theaters, film festivals, and college campuses in North America...
.
Early life
Adams was born Donald James Yarmy in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, son of William Yarmy and his wife Consuelo Dieter. His father, a restaurant manager, was Hungarian and Jewish and his mother was Irish and Roman Catholic. Adams and his brother (actor Dick Yarmy) were each raised in the religion of one parent: Don in the Catholic faith of their mother, and Dick in the Jewish faith of their father.
Dropping out of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School is an American high school located in the Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn...
, Adams worked as a theater usher. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
in 1941 together with his twin-brother cousins, William and Robert Karvelas
Robert Karvelas
Robert Karvelas was an American actor who was notable for his role as the Chief's dense assistant, Larrabee, on the 1960s sitcom Get Smart. He was Don Adams' cousin....
. The three were assigned to the Third Marines in Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
until Adams was sent as a replacement to the Battle of Guadalcanal, where he was the only survivor of his platoon. His survival, despite his company's near 90% fatality rate, was due to his contracting blackwater fever
Blackwater fever
Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream , releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure...
early in the campaign. He was evacuated and spent over a year in a Navy hospital in Wellington, New Zealand. After his recovery, he served as a Marine drill instructor
Drill instructor
A drill instructor is a non-commissioned officer or Staff Non-Commissioned Officer in the armed forces or police forces with specific duties that vary by country. In the U.S. armed forces, they are assigned the duty of indoctrinating new recruits entering the military into the customs and...
in the United States.
Following his discharge, Adams held a series of jobs. During a Canadian television interview, he said that he had faked college credentials and an engineering background to be hired as an engineer designing underground sewers. His lack of training was not discovered for six months.
He later worked as a comic, taking the stage name of Adams after marrying singer Adelaide (Dell) Efantis, who performed as Adelaide Adams. They had four daughters, and Adams also worked as a commercial artist and restaurant cashier to help support his family. When they divorced, he kept Adams as his stage name because acting auditions were often held in alphabetical order.
The Bill Dana Show
Adams' work on television began in 1954, when he won on Arthur Godfrey's Talent ScoutsArthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts is an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958...
with a stand-up comedy act written by boyhood friend Bill Dana. In addition to appearing on numerous comedy, variety, and dramatic series, Adams had a role on the NBC sitcom The Bill Dana Show
The Bill Dana Show
The Bill Dana Show was a United States comedy series starring Bill Dana and Jonathan Harris. The plot followed the daily lifestyle of Latin American, Jose Jiminez, as a bellhop in a New York hotel...
(1963–1965), as a bumbling hotel detective
Hotel Detective
A hotel detective is a security guard employed by a hotel. Hotel detectives feature prominently in certain noir fiction, especially in the works of Raymond Chandler, and are sometimes referred to as "House Dicks"...
named Byron Glick — a character Adams created that was the precursor to the role he would play as "Maxwell Smart" on Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
. (The hotel manager was played by Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris was an American stage and film character actor. Two of his best-known roles were as the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the TV version of The Third Man, and the comic villain Dr. Zachary Smith, in the 1960s sci-fi television series, Lost in Space...
who later did a guest role on Get Smart in 1970.)
Get Smart
Creators Mel BrooksMel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
and Buck Henry
Buck Henry
Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director.-Early life:...
, prompted by producers Dan Melnick and David Susskind
David Susskind
David Susskind was a producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a pioneer TV talk show host.-Personal:...
, wrote Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
as the comedic answer to the successful 1960s spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
dramas such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, I Spy and others. They were asked to write a spoof that combined elements from two of the most popular film series at the time: the James Bond
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
and Pink Panther (Inspector Clouseau) movies.
Get Smart had been written for Tom Poston
Tom Poston
Thomas Gordon "Tom" Poston was an American television and film actor. He starred on television in a career that began in 1950...
, to be piloted on CBS; when CBS turned it down, the show was picked up by NBC, which cast Adams in the role because he was already under contract. When Get Smart debuted in 1965, it was an immediate hit. Barbara Feldon co-starred as Max's young and attractive partner (later wife), Agent 99, where she had a great chemistry with Adams, throughout the show's run, despite a 10-year age difference.
Adams gave the character a clipped, unique speaking style. Feldon said, "Part of the pop fervor for Agent 86, was because Don did such an extreme portrayal of the character that it made it easy to imitate." Adams created many popular catch-phrases (some of which were in his act prior to the show), including "Sorry about that, Chief", , "Ahh ... the old [noun] in the [noun] trick. That's the [number]th time this [month/week]." (Sometimes the description of the trick was simply, "Ahh... the old [noun] trick."), and "Missed it by 'that much.'" These helped make the series a hit in over 100 countries.
In addition to acting, Adams also produced and directed several episodes of the show. Off the set, he occasionally feuded with Jay Sandrich
Jay Sandrich
Jay Henry Sandrich is an American television director.He began his career as an Assistant Director on I Love Lucy. Sandrich has directed and/or produced episodes of The Bill Dana Show, Get Smart, 2/3 of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Soap, first 3 seasons of The Cosby Show, and The Odd Couple...
, who served as writer. He was nominated for Emmys four seasons in a row, between 1966 and 1969, for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series. He won the award three times. The show moved to CBS for its final season, with ratings declining as spy series went out of fashion. Get Smart was canceled in 1970, after 138 episodes.
Typecasting
Adams was happy about the show's cancellation, since he wanted to move on to other projects. His efforts after Get Smart were less successful, including the comedy series The PartnersThe Partners
The Partners is an American sitcom that aired on September 18, 1971 through September 8, 1972 on NBC.-Synopsis:The program featured Don Adams and Rupert Crosse as bumbling detectives...
(1971–1972), a self-titled game show called Don Adams' Screen Test (1975–1976) and three attempts to revive the Get Smart series in the 1980s. Even his movie, The Nude Bomb
The Nude Bomb
The Nude Bomb is a 1980 comedy film based on the television series Get Smart. It starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and was directed by Clive Donner...
, was a box-office failure. Adams had been typecast as Maxwell Smart and unable to escape the image, though he did have success as the voice of Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget is an animated television series that revolves around the adventures of a clumsy, simple-witted cyborg detective named Inspector Gadget – a human being with various bionic gadgets built into his body. Gadget's arch-nemesis is Dr...
.
He earned most of his income from his work on stage and in nightclubs. As Adams had chosen a low salary combined with a one-third ownership stake in Get Smart during the show's production, he received a regular income for many years due to the show's popularity in reruns.
Don Adams' Screen Test
Don Adams' Screen TestDon Adams' Screen Test
Don Adams' Screen Test was an American game show that aired in syndication for one season with actor Don Adams, who played Agent 86 on Get Smart...
was a syndicated game show which lasted 26 episodes during the 1975–1976 season. The show was done in two 15-minute segments, in each of which a randomly selected audience member would 'act' to re-create a scene from a Hollywood movie as accurately as possible. Such moments as the bar scene from The Lost Weekend, the duel scene from The Prisoner of Zenda
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 film)
The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1937 black-and-white adventure film based on the Anthony Hope 1894 novel of the same name and the 1896 play. Of the many film adaptations, this is considered by many to be the definitive version....
or the beach scene from From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
were used, with Adams directing and a celebrity guest playing the other lead in the scene. Hokey effects, bad timing, forgotten lines, prop failures and the celebrity's "ad libs" were maximized for comic effect as the audience watched "bloopers" and "outtakes" as they happened. At the end of the program, the final, serious, fully edited version of the "screen test" of each of the two contestants would be played, with audience reaction determining the winner, who would receive a trip to Hollywood and a real screen test for a motion picture.
Voice-over and later work
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales is a popular, semi-educational animated cartoon TV series that originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1966. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that produced the earlier King Leonardo and the later Underdog, and primarily sponsored by General Mills...
(1963–1966), but he was more famous as the voice of Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget is an animated television series that revolves around the adventures of a clumsy, simple-witted cyborg detective named Inspector Gadget – a human being with various bionic gadgets built into his body. Gadget's arch-nemesis is Dr...
in the initial run of that television series (1983–1986) and the Christmas special, as well as in later reprises; he even voiced himself in animated form for a guest shot in an episode of Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
's The New Scooby-Doo Movies
The New Scooby-Doo Movies
The New Scooby-Doo Movies is the second incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. It premiered on September 9, 1972 and ran for two seasons on CBS as the only hour-long Scooby-Doo series...
, "The Exterminator," which first aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
October 6, 1973.
Starting in 1982, Adams resurrected the Maxwell Smart character for a series of television commercials for Savemart, a retail chain that sold audio and video equipment.
He attempted a situation-comedy comeback in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
with Check it Out! in 1985; the show ran for three years in Canada, but it was not successful in the United States. The show also starred Gordon Clapp
Gordon Clapp
Gordon Clapp is an American actor, best known for portraying the role of Det. Greg Medavoy for all 12 seasons on the television series NYPD Blue, winning an Emmy Award in 1998.-Early and personal life:...
, an unknown star at the time, who developed a rapport with Adams. In an A&E Biography, Adams said that he made more money working on the series, better than on Get Smart. He reprised his Maxwell Smart role on Get Smart
Get Smart (1995 TV series)
Get Smart is a short-lived American comedy television series that aired in 1995 on FOX. The series was a sequel to the original Get Smart television series that ran from 1965 to 1970. The series premiered on January 8, 1995 and ended its original run on February 19, 1995.-Overview:Maxwell Smart is...
for Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in 1995, which co-starred Barbara Feldon and rising star Andy Dick
Andy Dick
Andrew R. "Andy" Dick is an American comedian, actor, musician and television/film producer. His first regular television role was on the short-lived but highly influential Ben Stiller Show. In the mid-1990s, he had a long-running stint on NBC's NewsRadio...
as Max's & 99's only son. Unlike the original version, this show did not appeal to younger viewers and it was canceled after only seven episodes. He later went on to voice the character of Principal Hickley in the late-1990s/early-2000s Disney
Walt Disney Television Animation
Disney Television Animation is an American animation studio that is the TV animation production arm of the Disney-ABC Television Group, owned by The Walt Disney Company, dedicated to creating, developing and producing animated television series, films, specials and other projects.Established in...
cartoon, Pepper Ann
Pepper Ann
Pepper Ann is an American animated series created by Sue Rose and aired on ABC. It debuted on September 13, 1997.Pepper Ann starred cartoon adolescents and charted their ups and downs at Hazelnut Middle School. It aired as part of the Disney's One Saturday Morning block...
.
In 2003, Adams joined a Get Smart tribute at the Museum of Television and Radio. Also appearing at the convention were surviving stars of Get Smart: Barbara Feldon, Bernie Kopell
Bernie Kopell
Bernard Morton "Bernie" Kopell is an American television character actor who is probably best known for his roles as Dr. Adam Bricker in The Love Boat and KAOS agent Siegfried in Get Smart...
and Dick Gautier.
Adams stated in interviews that his famous "clippy" voice characterization was an exaggeration of the speaking style of actor William Powell
William Powell
William Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
. Occasionally, he also enjoyed doing a more explicit impersonation of Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
.
Adams was the voice of Brain the Dog in the end credits for the film version of Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget (film)
Inspector Gadget is a 1999 American live-action comedy film loosely based on the 1983 animated cartoon series Inspector Gadget. It starred Matthew Broderick as the title character, along with Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw, Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny, and Dabney Coleman as Chief Quimby...
in 1999.
Personal life
Adams was married: to Adelaide Efantis Adams, Dorothy Bracken Adams and Judy Luciano. His brother, Richard Paul Yarmy, also known as Dick Yarmy (February 14, 1932 – May 5, 1992), was an actor. His sister, Gloria (Yarmy) Burton, was a writer.Adams was an avid gambler; according to his longtime friend Bill Dana, "He could be very devoted to his family if you reminded him about it, [but] Don's whole life was focused around gambling."
Death
Don Adams died on September 25, 2005 at Cedars-Sinai Medical CenterCedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
from a lung infection. Before he died, he joked about not wanting a mournful funeral, preferring, he said, to have his friends get together "and bring me back to life." Among his eulogists were his decades-long friends Barbara Feldon, Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
, James Caan
James Caan
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
, and Bill Dana, and his son-in-law, actor Jim Beaver
Jim Beaver
James Norman "Jim" Beaver, Jr. is an American stage, film, and television actor, playwright, screenwriter, and film historian...
(widower of Adams's actress-daughter Cecily Adams
Cecily Adams
Cecily April Adams was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York, the daughter of comic actor Don Adams and singer Adelaide Efantis, and the sister of actress/TV executive Stacey Adams...
). Although Adams had expressed a desire to be buried with military rites at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
, he was instead interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
in Hollywood, California. His non-military funeral mass was held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Adams was survived by three of his four daughters from his first marriage, two children from his second marriage, and a daughter from his third marriage; he was also survived by five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
External links
- Associated Press obituary in the Los Angeles Daily NewsLos Angeles Daily NewsThe Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....