Don Adams

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Birthday:

13 April 1923, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name:

Donald James Yarmy

Height:

175 cm

Don Adams was born in New York, to a father of Hungarian Jewish descent, and a mother of German and Irish ancestry. He 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. He had seven children altogether, (four with his first wife, two with his second, one with his third): Caroline Adams, Christine, Catherine, Cecily Adams, Stacey Adams, 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. Show less «

[interview with Robert DeRossi, 10/27/65] I don't want to change the thinking of the world. My purpose is to make people laugh . . . It woul...Show more »

[interview with Robert DeRossi, 10/27/65] I don't want to change the thinking of the world. My purpose is to make people laugh . . . It would be hypocritical if I said I don't want recognition, but I've never wanted it terribly. I think I'm being honest when I say I'd rather turn my talents, whatever they are, to writing and directing. Show less «

In restaurants, [people] send over shoes. I'm so tired of it. I keep getting shoes.

I hate performing. I don't care about being thought funny; I never did. Sometimes I wonder how I got into comedy at all. I did movie star im...Show more »

I hate performing. I don't care about being thought funny; I never did. Sometimes I wonder how I got into comedy at all. I did movie star impressions as a kid in high school. Somehow they just got out of hand. Show less «

[on Get Smart (1965)] The first few episodes I saw angered me so much I felt like throwing the TV through a window. I couldn't stand the lau...Show more »

[on Get Smart (1965)] The first few episodes I saw angered me so much I felt like throwing the TV through a window. I couldn't stand the laugh track . . . I didn't think so when I was making them, but some of those episodes are funny, funny shows. Some are classics. I actually laugh out loud at them now. Show less «

I'm no longer independently wealthy. I guess it's the result of too many wives, too many kids and too much alimony. I've been paying alimony...Show more »

I'm no longer independently wealthy. I guess it's the result of too many wives, too many kids and too much alimony. I've been paying alimony since I was 14 and child support since 15. That's a joke, but not by much. Show less «

I like getting married, but I don't like BEING married.

[on his trademark clipped voice] It was Bill ([Bill Dana] who was primarily responsible for me using that voice. Right from the beginning, h...Show more »

[on his trademark clipped voice] It was Bill ([Bill Dana] who was primarily responsible for me using that voice. Right from the beginning, he said, "You should do all your routines in that voice". And I said, "But I can't stand that voice". And he said, "But it's funny. It makes people laugh". And I'm, like, "But I hate it . . . ". For whatever reason, the delivery or whatever it is, that voice makes any situation funnier. Show less «

[on Jim Carrey] I'm not turned on by a comedian who bends over, spreads his cheeks and speaks out of his rear end.

I watched Seinfeld (1989) and didn't know what the show was about. It was about nothing!

[on Get Smart (1995) and Andy Dick] I knew it wouldn't work but they offered me a lot of money. I knew after the pilot that this kid couldn'...Show more »

[on Get Smart (1995) and Andy Dick] I knew it wouldn't work but they offered me a lot of money. I knew after the pilot that this kid couldn't carry the show. Show less «