Barbara Feldon

About Barbara Feldon

Barbara Feldon (born Barbara Hall on March 12, 1932 in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania) is an American actress, game show panelist of the 1960s and model, known for her character-type roles. The naturally brunette-headed Feldon gained prominence in the 1960s for playing Don Adams's working partner and future wife, Agent 99, on the long-running cult favourite 1960s sitcom, Get Smart. She also guest-starred on Cheers, and she also guest-starred as Paul Reiser's TV idol, Diane Caldwell, a spy, on Mad About You.

She graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in drama, shortly after which she won the grand prize on The $64,000 Question in the category of William Shakespeare. In 1965 she had a lead role in an earlier spy show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in "The Never-Never Affair" where she was a Portuguese translator for U.N.C.L.E. who wished for more excitement and got it.

She was most famous for her character Agent 99 in the television comedy series Get Smart, starring with lead Don Adams throughout the series' five seasons. When she was cast for the role, she was already famous, although anonymously, appearing on a tigerskin rug in an advertisement for Top Brass dandruff cream. In addition, she also had a wonderful on- and off- screen chemistry with Adams, throughout the entire run, and when the series had ended, they were best friends until Adams' own death on September 26, 2005. For her performance in Get Smart, she was nominated for an Emmy award for 'Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series' in 1968 and 1969.