Don Adams

At 82 years old, Don Adams has this physical status:

Donald James Yarmy (April 13, 1923-2005), also known as Don Adams, was an American actor, comedian, and producer.

He was best known as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) in the television situation comedy Get Smart (1965-1995), which he also wrote and directed in his five decades on television.

Adams received three Emmy Awards for his work in the series (1967–69).

Adams also performed in the animated series Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963–86) and Inspector Gadget (1983–86), as well as numerous revivals and spinoffs of the former in the 1990s.

Early life

Adams was born in Manhattan, New York, the son of William Yarmy and his partner, Consuelo (née Deiter) Yarmy. His father was of Jewish descent in Hungary, and his mother was Irish-American. Donald and his brother Dick Yarmy were both raised in the Catholic faith of their mother's family, and Dick in the Jewish faith of their father. Gloria Ella Yarmy (later Gloria Burton), a writer who wrote an episode of Get Smart, was one of the brothers' elder sister. He served as a theatre usher after dropping out of DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City. Later, he said he had "no use for school."

He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1941, and he served as a lieutant admiral of the United States Marine Corps. Yarmy was sent by the First Training Battalion in New River, North Carolina, and later assigned to the Eighth Marines, the Third Battalion.

Yarmy's unit was sent to Samoa for further education in May 1942 and then served in the Pacific Theater of Operations in Guadalcanal. Yarmy was critically wounded by a Japanese sniper during an assault on the Japanese naval base on the nearby island of Tulagi, which had been defending fiercely. He later contracted blackwater fever, a dangerous form of malaria, with a 90 percent fatality rate, and his recovery was hampered by hostile battlefield conditions. He didn't expect to recover. Yarmy was evacuated and then hospitalized at a Navy hospital in Wellington, New Zealand, for more than a year. The Purple Heart was given to him. Yarmy served as a Marine Drill Instructor in the United States after his recuperation, earning the rank of corporal. He was known as an expert marksman and was praised for his accuracy.

Personal life

He wrote "none" on the section of the form asking about faith at the time of his enlistment in the United States Marines. During his difficult recovery from blackwater fever, he returned to his Catholic faith as he prayed to recover.

Adams divorced Adelaide in 1960 and married Dorothy Bracken, an actress. In 1977, he left Bracken to marry actress Judy Luciano, with whom he had one child. The marriage ended in divorce. He had seven children: Carolyn, Christine, Cathy, Cecily, Cecily, Stacey, Sean, and Beige. Cecily died of lung cancer in 2004 and his son Sean died in 2006 of a brain tumor at the age of 35, a year after Don Adams' death.

Richard Paul Yarmy, also known as Dick Yarmy (February 14, 1932 – May 5, 1992), was an actor. Gloria Yarmy Burton, his sister, was a writer. Adams' uncle, Robert Karvelas, appeared on Get Smart as Agent Larabee, was the cousin of his mother's side of the family.

Adams "could be very committed to his family if you told him about it," says longtime gambler Bill Dana.

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Career

Yarmy began to work in Florida as a comedian, doing impersonations of celebrities, but was barred from doing "blue" stuff and was fired. Adelaide Constance Efantis (1924-2016), also known as "Dell," a singer who appeared as Adelaide Adams, married him in 1947. Performers were called up for auditions in alphabetical order, so she decided to use her name. Adams also worked as a commercial artist and restaurant cashier to help his wife and three children.

Adams' television career began in 1954 with a stand-up comedy act drafted by boyhood friend Bill Dana. In the late 1950s, he made eleven appearances on The Steve Allen Show, where Dana was a member of the writing team. He appeared on NBC's The Perry Como Show as part of The Kraft Music Hall Players from 1961-1963. Byron Glick, a bumbling hotel detective from 1961 to 1965, appeared on the NBC sitcom The Bill Dana Show (1963–65).

Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, prompted by filmmakers Daniel Melnick and David Susskind, wrote Get Smart, the comedic answer to 1960s spy dramas like The Man from U.C.L.E., The Avengers, I Spy, and others. They were asked to write a spoof of two of the most popular film series of the time: James Bond and The Pink Panther (Inspector Clouseau).

Get Smart was created as a vehicle for Tom Poston to be piloted on ABC; when ABC pulled it down, NBC picked up the show and cast Adams in the role because he was still under contract. When Get Smart debuted in 1965, it was an immediate hit. Barbara Feldon co-starred Max as Max's nascent and attractive wife (later wife) Agent 99. Despite a 10-year age gap, they had a chemistry throughout the show's run, and they became their best friends during and after.

Adams gave the character a clipped speaking style based on actor William Powell. "Don did such a dramatic portrayal of the character that it made it possible to imitate," Feldon said. Adams performed many famous catchphrases, some of which were in his act before the show, including "Sorry, Chief" and "Would you believe...?" "Ahh,... the old [noun] in the [noun] trick." That's the [number]th time it's been [month/week] since [month] began. (At times, the trick was simply: "Ahh...the old [noun] trick." "Missed it by 'that much,'" says the author.

Adams also produced and directed 13 episodes of the series. He was nominated for four seasons in a row, from 1966 to 1969, for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series. He has been given the award three times in his career. As spy series went out of style, the show went to CBS for its final season, with ratings declining. After 138 episodes, Get Smart was cancelled in 1970.

Adams decided to move forward to other ventures as a result of this. His attempts after Get Smart were less fruitful, including the comedy series The Partners (1971–72), Don Adams' Screen Test (1975–76, see below), and three attempts to revive the Get Smart series in the 1980s. The Nude Bomb (1980) was unpopular at the box office. Adams had been typecast as Maxwell Smart and was unable to get out of the picture, but Inspector Gadget's voice had success.

The bulk of his income came from his appearances and nightclubs. During the show's run, Adams had chosen a low salary with a one-third ownership stake in Get Smart, which added to the show's success in reruns.

During the 1975-1976 season, Don Adams' Screen Test was a syndicated game show that lasted 26 episodes. The show was divided into two 15-minute segments, in each of which a randomly selected audience member would "act" to recreate a scene from a Hollywood film as accurately as possible.

There were scenes from The Lost Weekend, the duel scene from The Prisoner of Zenda, or the beach scene from From Here to Eternity, with Adams directing and a celebrity guest taking the other lead. As the audience watched "bloopers" and "outtakes" as they occurred, hokey effects, bad timing, forgotten lines, prop failures, and the celebrity's "ad-libs" were maximized for comedic effect. The final, robust, fully edited version of each of the contestants' "screen test" will be played at the end of the course, with audience reaction determining the winner, who will get a trip to Hollywood and a real motion picture.

Adams resurrects the Maxwell Smart character in a series of television commercials for Savemart, a grocery chain that sold audio and video equipment. In the 1980s, he produced a string of audio/radio advertisements for Chief Auto Parts, a retail vehicle parts company that later sold to AutoZone.

In Jimmy the Kid (1982), he appeared in Jimmy the Kid (1982) and appeared as a harbormaster in Back to the Beach (1987).

With Check It Out, Adams made a situation-comedy comeback in Canada. In 1985, the first time in 1985. The competition, which was held in a supermarket, lasted three years, but it was not as popular in the United States. Gordon Clapp, an unidentified actor at the time who formed a friendship with Adams, appeared on the show as well.

Adams starred Barbara Feldon and rising actor Andy Dick as Max and 99's uncle in 1995, one of the few Maxwell Smart for Fox's last appearances. Unlike the original version, this series did not appeal to younger viewers, and after just seven episodes, it was cancelled. On November 7, 2003, at a North Hollywood restaurant, one of Adams' last public appearances, the cast and some of the show's most popular artists were on display.

Adams, the title character in Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963–66), sang of "Tennessee Tuxedo will not fail" with his witty catches. In an episode of Hanna-Barbera's The Exterminator, he appeared in animated form for a guest shot. Inspector Gadget's most famous voiceover job was of the title character. He appeared in the original television series (1983–85) and a 1992 Christmas special, as well as in subsequent 1990s spinoffs Gadget Boy and Inspector Gadget's Field Trip. In 1999, he retired from being a voicing Inspector Gadget.

In the end credits for the 1999 film version of Inspector Gadget, his final appearances were the character of Principal Hickey in the Disney/early 2000s Disney cartoon Pepper Ann, Ranger Rudy in Fisher-Price CD-ROM game Outdoor Adventures: Ranger Rudy and Brain the Dog.

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