Don Adams Add to My Celebs Age 82 (passed away Sep. 25th, 2005) Birthday Apr. 13th, 1923 Born in New York City, New York, USA Height 5' 8 1/2"

Don Adams' Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Get Smart (1965) Maxwell Smart Inspector Gadget Gadget Pepper Ann Principal H… Underdog Tennessee T… Get Smart Chief Maxwe… Gadget Boy and Heather Gadget Boy Gadget Boy's Adventures in History Gadget Boy Check It Out (CA) Howard Bann… Tennessee Tuxedo and his Tales Tennessee T… The Partners Det. Lennie…

Main Movie Roles 1999 - Inspector Gadget 1987 - Back to the Beach 1982 - Jimmy the Kid 1980 - The Nude Bomb

NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB


BIOGRAPHY:

Of Irish-Hungarian heritage, New York-born Don Adams had a sister, Gloria, and a brother, Dick Yarmy. He served in the U.S. Marines in World War II and contracted malaria during the fighting on Guadalcanal island. After the war he began a career as a stand-up comic. He married singer Adelaide Adams and adopted her last name as his stage surname. They had seven children: Carolyn, Christine, Catherine, Cecily Adams, Stacey Adams (I), Sean, Beige. His television career began when he won the "Ted Mack & the Original Amateur Hour" (1948) talent contest. His most famous role, of course, is as bumbling, incompetent, clueless yet endearing secret agent Maxwell Smart in the classic sitcom/spy spoof "Get Smart" (1965), although he also had a career as a television director and a Broadway and theatrical dramatic actor.


TRIVIA:

• Dropped out from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1941 (which was his senior year).
• His clipped Maxwell Smart voice came from a much exaggerated takeoff on 'William Powell (I)' (qv)'s "The Thin Man." He used to get laughs using the exact same voice years earlier on the stand-up circuit in different character set pieces - a baseball umpire, a football coach, a defense attorney.
• His two best known roles -- Maxwell Smart and Inspector Gadget -- were both James Bond parodies. _"Get Smart" (1965)_ (qv) parodied the secret agent stories, while Inspector Gadget featured the unseen villain The Claw, who is shown as an arm stroking his cat, an obvious reference to Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
• Before he was a comedian/actor, he worked as a theater usher.
• Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith; pg. 4-5. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
• Buried at the beautifully restored Hollywood Forever Cemetery located at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, California, USA. Plot 8, Northeast pond.
• Was only 2 inches shorter than ex-_"Get Smart" (1965)_ (qv) co-star, 'Barbara Feldon' (qv). In order for make it appear that Adams was taller than her, he'd either stand on a small platform or Feldon would stoop down.
• Shares birthday with 'Ron Perlman' (qv).

Don Adams Photos

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