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Don Adams Dead


flyingtiger1013

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Would you believe....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170444,00.html

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

Adams died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (search), 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 Thaddius (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.

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Adams, who had been under contract to NBC, was lukewarm about doing a spy spoof. When he learned that Mel Brooks (search) 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 (search) for best comedy series with three Emmys for Adams as comedy actor.

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:( :cry: R.I.P. Don

Get Smart is one of my favorite shows of all time. Don had some of the best catch phrases. My favorite, and probably most people's is "Would you believe?". Nobody ever cracked me up like Don Adams did in Get Smart. In one of my favorite episodes. Max is being taken out on a stretcher thru revolving doors. That scene had my sides splitting.

I heard that Get Smart is coming out on DVD possibly some time next year.

Both Don Adams and Bob Denver passing in the same month. This has been a sad month for me.

R.I.P. Don, I'm going to miss you.

get_smart_narrowweb__200x255.jpg

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Although, I've got to admit,

For several years, I've been hearing "Would you believe. . . " every time I hear W speak.

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Wasn't it this show where one of his missions was that Chaos had developed a silent explosive?

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And I remember seeing an interview with Mel Borrks about difficulties with TV censors. He said they'd had a problem with one scene in which Max and 99 are on the villian Ziegfried's secret island, trying to infiltrate his base, and get stuck in quicksand.

The censors said that dieing in quicksand is too slow and horrible for family viewing. Even though the Good Guys (guess what) don't die in the quicksand, the possibility that they might was too scary for TV.

Brooks re-wrote the scene.

99: Oh Max! We're stuck in quicksand!

(Ziegfried appears, gloating)

Ziegfreid: No, my dear. You're stuck in Ziegfreid-sand!

Max: What's the difference?

Ziegfreid: It's quicker!

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