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IN MEMORIAM

Don Adams, a three-time Emmy winner for his role as Maxwell Smart (aka Agent 86) on the '60s James Bond-spoofing series Get Smart, died on Sunday of a lung infection. He was 82. Born Donald James Yarmy, Adams dropped out of high school and joined the Marines in 1941. After contracting malaria during the Guadalcanal campaign, he returned to the United States as a drill instructor, where he acquired his distinctive clipped style of speaking — one that would serve him well professionally. In addition to Get Smart, its feature film (The Nude Bomb) and prime-time resurrections, his credits included voicing Tennessee Tuxedo, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's Comet and Inspector Gadget.

TV GuideNews Sept. 26, 2005 at 1:00 a.m. PT

Don Adams, a three-time Emmy winner for his role as Maxwell Smart (aka Agent 86) on the '60s James Bond-spoofing series Get Smart, died on Sunday of a lung infection. He was 82. Born Donald James Yarmy, Adams dropped out of high school and joined the Marines in 1941. After contracting malaria during the Guadalcanal campaign, he returned to the United States as a drill instructor, where he acquired his distinctive clipped style of speaking one that would serve him well professionally. In addition to Get Smart, its feature film (The Nude Bomb) and prime-time resurrections, his credits included voicing Tennessee Tuxedo, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's Comet and Inspector Gadget.