‘Get Smart’ Turns 60! Uncover Everything About Don Adams and His Iconic Role as Maxwell Smart
Learn all about Don Adams and how Mel Brooks' 'Get Smart' turned him into one of TV's biggest stars
Among the television series celebrating 60 years in 2025 (including Green Acres and I Dream of Jeannie) is Get Smart, a parody of James Bond films co-created by Buck Henry and Mel Brooks and starring comedian Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Secret Agent 86 of CONTROL. Running from 1965 to 1970, the show co-stars Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 and Edward Platt as the Chief, all working—as Smart might say—”to defend niceness.”
Get Smart made a huge star out of Adams at the time, the actor effortlessly bringing bumbling yet lovable qualities to the character and winning three consecutive Emmy Awards between 1967 and 1969. Below, get to know much more about his life and career.
Don Adams’ early life and military service
Don Adams was born Donald James Yarmy on April 13, 1923, in New York City. His early life was marked by a variety of experiences that would shape his future career. He dropped out of high school and began working as a theater usher before joining the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. Adams fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942 and contracted blackwater fever, a malaria complication that was often fatal. He spent about a year in a New Zealand Navy hospital recovering. After recovering, he served as a Marine drill instructor.
Geoffrey Mark, a pop culture historian who became friends with Adams later in life, describes him as “tremendously ambitious” with “a sharp, inquisitive mind. He was good-looking, which was unusual for comedy actors of his day. Being handsome wasn’t a requirement to be a stand-up comic, but Don was in good shape and handsome; not necessarily a leading man type.”
From stand-up to TV stardom
After marrying actress Adelaide Efantis in 1947, he changed his stage name to Don Adams. In the 1950s, he began his stand-up career in the late 1950s, performing in clubs like The Hungry I in San Francisco and The Duplex in New York.
According to Geoffrey Mark, his true breakthrough came when he started to develop a unique “point of view” in his act. “You cannot be a successful stand-up comedian unless you have a specific point of view,” says Mark. “The rule of thumb among comedians is if the jokes you are telling can be told by anybody else successfully, you’re on the wrong track.”
Adams met Bill Dana, who would become a significant influence on his career. Dana helped him create a character inspired by William Powell’s portrayal of Nick Charles in The Thin Man films. “If you watch The Thin Man,” Mark explains, “you would hear him interrogating people, and Don would, of course, exaggerate that. That voice gave him laughs, even if what he was saying wasn’t particularly funny.”
Dana also contributed iconic catchphrases to Adams’ comedy routines, including “Would you believe?” and “Missed it by that much”—phrases that would eventually become staples of his role as Maxwell Smart.
How he accidentally inspired Bob Newhart
According to Mark, armed with material he had developed with Bill Dana, Adams went to work doing standup in Chicago. In the audience was a young Bob Newhart, who liked what he saw and wrote some material he brought to the comedian on spec.
“Bob was an accountant at the time,” he says, “but felt that he had the funny gene. Don read through the material and told Bob it was funny, but not for him, and that he should keep up the good work. Bob thought nothing more of it, until about two weeks later when he’s watching The Ed Sullivan Show and there’s Don, performing the material that Bob wrote. Bob said, ‘If that son of a b***h can get laughs on The Ed Sullivan Show with my material, so can I!’ And Bob began to perform his own material out of anger at Don Adams for stealing it. Eventually, he confronted him about it, but, you know, success is the best revenge, and Bob became a whole lot more successful than Don.”
Breakthrough role: ‘The Bill Dana Show’
Before Get Smart, Adams’ biggest role was on The Bill Dana Show (1963 to 1965), where he played Byron Glick, a bumbling hotel detective. Mark points out that many elements of the actor’s later role as Maxwell Smart were already evident in his portrayal of Glick. “The catchphrases, the delivery, the fumbling through things that somehow comes out right in the end, was created by Bill Dana with Don Adams.”
Get Smart and the creation of Maxwell Smart
Adams’ defining role came in 1965 when he was cast as Maxwell Smart in Get Smart, a television series created by Buck Henry and Mel Brooks. The show parodied the spy genre, which was booming at the time thanks to James Bond. Get Smart was a perfect combination of espionage and comedy, with Adams bringing his unique brand of humor to the role of the bumbling agent.
His portrayal of Smart earned him three Primetime Emmy Awards, and he quickly became a television superstar. However, as Geoffrey Mark points out, this success had an unintended side effect: “The character of Maxwell Smart and Don Adams became inextricably linked in the minds of viewers, casting directors and producers for the rest of his life. It wasn’t the plan, but it happened.”
Behind the scenes of Get Smart
Things did not always go smoothly during production, largely because of the actor. “The people who worked on Get Smart were grateful for the work and for the money, but they felt Don was a pain in the ass,” Geoffrey Mark reflects. “I don’t know how else to say it, but he was also a principal in the production company, and he didn’t want money to be spent. Sometimes he was demanding of quality, which helped the show. Sometimes he was demanding of attention, which didn’t help the show. Don got involved with the writing and directing.”
Despite the tensions on set, Get Smart was a hit. The chemistry between Adams and co-star Barbara Feldon (Agent 99) was key to the series’ success, and the addition of Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot provided an extra layer of humor to the show … plus something else. “Dick Gautier was one of the most physically beautiful beings to ever walk the planet and very talented,” says Geoffrey. “I think he was there to keep Don in line. If Don pulled any crap, they’d just put Dick in, in his place.”
Don Adams’ life after ‘Get Smart’
Although Get Smart made Adams a household name, his career after the show’s cancellation in 1970 struggled to maintain the same momentum. As Geoffrey Mark observes, “There are a lot of people who are very successful in a television series while they’re on it, but once the series ends, for some people their star gets tarnished.”
His post-Get Smart series were The Partners (1971 to 1972), a single-season series where he played another bumbling detective, this time alongside Bruce Gordon; Don Adams’ Screen Test (1975), a syndicated show where Adams hosted contestants attempting to recreate classic movie scenes; and the Canadian sitcom Check It Out! (1985 to 1988).
On top of that, he voiced the character of Inspector Gadget in the animated series of the same name (1983–1985). He reprised the role in later specials and series, including Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (1992) and Inspector Gadget’s Field Trip (1996–2004). There would also be Get Smart revivals and reboots, but nothing that connected in the same way as the original series. In between, he made guest appearances on such shows as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and The Fall Guy.
Struggles and relationships
Adams was married three times: first to Adelaide Efantis (1947–1960), then to Dorothy Bracken (1960–1976) and, finally, to Judy Luciano (1977–1990). He was the father of seven, including daughter Cecily Adams, who passed away from lung cancer in 2004 at the age of 46.
Adams’ personal life was complicated, especially when it came to his relationships. Geoffrey Mark describes him as “incapable of being faithful,” adding, “The best example I can give you is based on what he told me. I believe it was his wife Dorothy who caught him cheating and demanded a first-class trip around the world. Don played a game of marital Russian roulette, keeping wives and girlfriends happy at the same time.”
While Adams had many flaws in his personal life, he remained a generous and open person to those who knew him. Geoffrey Mark reflects, “Don was open. He was funny. He was generous. He was honest. He did nothing to me for which I ever had a reason to be angry.”
Don Adams’ legacy: a lasting impact on comedy
His final role was voicing Brain the Dog in the 1999 Inspector Gadget movie. He passed away on September 25, 2006, from lymphoma and a lung infection at the age of 82.
As his career wound down, Adams found success in voice work, particularly through his role as Inspector Gadget, which helped keep his name in the public eye. Geoffrey Mark recalls a conversation they had about the show, where Adams said, “I’m proud to have done Inspector Gadget. I’m glad children like it.” He may not have been a leading man in the traditional sense, but Adams’ contribution to animation was significant, especially in shaping a character beloved by kids.
Mark sums it up this way: “Don was not unlike a lot of comedians of his era: the career was everything. Don believed that his income and his stature entitled him to be a player, a gambler, a womanizer and a hedonist. Hedonists don’t make for good husbands or fathers. Sometimes they don’t even make for good friends.”
But for those who accepted him with all his imperfections—or simply laughed at his on-screen antics—Don Adams, whether he would have liked it or not, as Maxwell Smart, as iconic a television character as there’s ever been. There are far worse legacies to have.
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