ACTOR
Don Adams
28 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (28)
- #001
Rather than take a large per-episode paycheck for Get Smart (1965) ($12,500 a week), Adams chose a smaller salary and a 33% share. The gamble paid off; the series has been airing for decades.
- #002
During World War II he served in the United States Marine Corps and took part in the landing and battle at Guadalcanal, where he contracted malaria.
- #003
His two best-known roles (Maxwell Smart and Inspector Gadget) were James Bond imitations. Get Smart (1965) parodied spy stories. Although the Inspector Gadget character was behaviorally closer to the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, it featured the unseen villain Doctor Claw, shown as an arm stroking a cat, a clear reference to Bond's villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
- #004
He won three Emmys for his portrayal of the bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in Get Smart (1965), and the series itself won two awards for "Best Comedy," but afterward he was seriously typecast and could not find another suitable showcase to display his range as a comic.
- #005
While serving in the Marine Corps, one of his duties was drill instructor.
- #006
He was only five inches shorter than his former Get Smart (1965) co-star Barbara Feldon. To make Adams appear taller than her, he would either stand on a small platform or Feldon would stoop.
- #007
In the postwar years he had stopped performing on stage and, finding it hard to get stand-up work, had become a commercial artist. In 1954 he happened to attend an audition and became the winner on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (1948). This led to appearances on television, with Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan among others, and to stardom.
- #008
He disliked the (badly timed) laugh track in the Get Smart (1965) film.
- #009
At first he was not interested in making Get Smart (1965), a James Bond spoof, and came on board after learning that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry were involved in the pilot script. The first name considered for the role was Tom Poston, but Adams, who was then under contract to NBC, was promoted for the job by the network.
- #010
He was one of the first (if not the first) stand-up comedians to have his own sitcom.
- #011
He died of a lung infection while being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA. Adams also had bone lymphoma resulting from a broken hip more than a year before his death. He was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
- #012
His daughter Cecily Adams died in 2004 and his son Sean Adams died in 2006.
- #013
He and Barbara Feldon remained good friends during and after Get Smart (1965).
- #014
He disliked the two Get Smart (1965) revival films and the sequel series. He admitted that he only agreed to appear in the film for the paychecks.
- #015
In 1999 he played Maxwell Smart once more, this time in a successful series of Canadian TV commercials for the "Buck-a-Call" long-distance service.
- #016
He was a close friend of "Playboy" publisher Hugh Hefner and spent one night a week playing cards with Hefner (and his other friends).
- #017
He claimed he changed his surname from Yarmy to Adams because he was tired of always having to go last at auditions, which he said were (wrongly) usually held in alphabetical order. In reality he took his stage name from his first wife, the singer Adelaide Adams, with whom he shared a bill on the nightclub circuit.
- #018
Don Adams's father was of Hungarian Jewish descent. His mother had German and Irish ancestry.
- #019
According to Barbara Feldon, his former Get Smart (1965) co-star, Adams had a phenomenal memory that allowed him to bring an unusual approach to filming.
- #020
Don Adams had a daughter named Cecily Adams with his first wife, Adelaide. He also had a daughter named Stacey Adams and his only son, Sean Adams, with his second wife, Dorothy. His other daughters are Carolyn, Chris, Cathy and Beige.
- #021
Don Adams was part of a comedy team called The Young Brothers with Jay Lawrence.
- #022
Don Adams is best remembered by the public for his role as "Maxwell Smart/Agent 86" in Get Smart (1965).
- #023
Don Adams left DeWitt Clinton High School in 1941, his final year there.
- #024
Before becoming a comedian and actor, Don Adams worked as a theater usher.
- #025
Don Adams was Jim Beaver's father-in-law.
- #026
Don Adams began pursuing engineering designs but was unsuccessful, so he tried comedy and won a talent contest that was seen by talent scouts, which led to appearances on shows such as Steve Allen's and carried him further up the ladder to fame.
- #027
Don Adams was the older brother of Dick Yarmy, the cousin of Robert Karvelas and the brother-in-law of Alice Borden.
- #028
Although Adams was skilled at hand-to-hand combat in real life, the fight scenes in Get Smart (1965) required the use of a stunt double because the series' insurance would not cover him.
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