Father-in-law of Jim Beaver.

One of the first (if not the first) stand up comedian to have his own sitcom.

Did not like the (badly timed) laugh track in "Get Smart" (1965).

Was a close friend of "Playboy" publisher Hugh M. Hefner, and spent one night each week with Hefner (and other friends) playing cards.

His two best known roles -- Maxwell Smart and Inspector Gadget -- were both James Bond parodies. "Get Smart" (1965) 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.

Claims he changed his last name from Yarmy to Adams because he was tired of having to go last at auditions, which, he said (inaccurately), usually went in alphabetical order. In reality, he took his stage name from his first wife, singer Adelaide Adams, with whom he shared a bill on the nightclub circuit.

His Agent 86 catchphrase, "Would you believe...?", became the slogan for commercials for the White Castle hamburger chain in 1992, in which he also acted.

Born to a Hungarian father and Irish mother.

Father of Cecily Adams and Stacey Adams.

In 1984, played as himself in Miller Lite Beer commercials, poking fun at his Maxwell Smart fame.

Buried at the beautifully restored Hollywood Forever Cemetery located at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, California, USA. Plot 8, Northeast pond.

Won three Emmys for bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in "Get Smart" (1965) and the show itself won two awards for "Best Comedy," but he was severely typecast after this and never did find another proper showcase to display his comic range.

Uninterested in doing the James Bond spoof "Get Smart" (1965) series at first, he got on board after learning that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry were involved with the pilot script. Tom Poston was the first name being considered for the role, but Adams, under contract to NBC at the time, was promoted for the job by the network.

Served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, and took part in the landings and battle at Guadalcanal, where he contracted malaria.

Had stopped performing in the postwar years and became a commercial artist because he had trouble finding stand-up work. In 1954, on a fluke, he auditioned and became a winner on Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts" (1948). This led to TV appearances with Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan, among others, and stardom.

As the inept Agent 86 on "Get Smart" (1965) Adams used to have a script assistant read his part to him once or twice just before a scene, instead of learning his lines.

Cousin of Robert Karvelas

His clipped Maxwell Smart voice came from a much exaggerated takeoff on William Powell'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.

Shares birthday with Ron Perlman.

In 1999 he started to play Maxwell Smart once again, this time in a successful series of Canadian TV commercials for the "Buck-a-Call" long-distance service.

His TV writing partner in 1954 was comedian Bill Dana. Dana used Adams on his own TV show, "The Bill Dana Show" (1963) from 1963 to 1965, by incorporating one of Adams' stand-up characters, inept house detective Byron Glick.

Instead of taking a large paycheck per episode ($12,500 per week) of "Get Smart" (1965), Adams decided to take a smaller salary and 33% share. It paid off in spades--the show has been running in syndication for decades.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith; pg. 4-5. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

One of his duties while serving in the Marine Corps was a drill instructor.

USMC during WWII. Contracted malaria on Guadalcanal