According to Barbara Feldon, not a day goes by when somebody
doesn't yell, "Hey, 99," out a cab window or smile and say hello to
her on the street.
The recognition from fans, she says, "is the most extraordinary gift in
life."
From 1965 to 1970, Feldon, a former dancer, played the beautiful, intelligent
CONTROL. Agent 99, who was partnered with the bumbling, dimwitted Maxwell
Smart (Don Adams), on the classic NBC and CBS series "Get Smart."
"I don't watch reruns," she says. "I haven't seen the show
since 1970, so for 23 years it has been totally out of my life."
But the series has come back into her life thanks to cable's Nickelodeon,
which began running the Emmy-winning comedy two years ago. "Ninty-Nine is
not me," Feldon explains. "It's like I am getting the reflected
pleasure she would be getting. I feel like an inposter in a way, but I just
gobble it up. "
On May 8, Feldon makes a rare TV appearance on the NBC comedy series "Mad
About You" as the star of a famous '60s spy series. "It's sort of a
parody," Feldon says. "I am playing a woman who used to be on a
series called 'Spy Girl.' "
Spy Girl enters the lives of publicist Jamie (Helen Hunt) and her filmmaker
husband Paul (Paul Reiser) when she comes to New York to promote a book.
"It turns out she is incredibly difficult and high-handed," Feldon
says.
Though Feldon was trained as a dramatic actress, she gets the most
satisfaction doing comedy. "I think you are either born with (the ability
to do comedy) or not," Feldon explains. "It is more like music than
acting. Comedy has so much to do with timing."
She learned a lot about her craft appearing opposite Adams, whom she describes
as a "tremendous comedic talent." Working with someone like Adams,
she says, "just kind of elevates you."
Feldon, who grew up in Pittsburgh, always wanted to live in New York.
"The minute I graduated (from high school), I was on the next train to
New York," she says.
After living in California for 12 years, Feldon moved back to New York in 1977
and rarely leaves the city. "I am just so happy that I live here,"
she says, adding "it's the surprises and the variety" of the Big
Apple that she finds so appealing.
Feldon makes a good living these days primarily doing voice-overs, currently
for such commercials as Nice Cough drops and Campbell Soup. Last fall, she
narrated PBS' four-part documentary "The Dinosaurs!"
"I just love doing voice-over work," Feldon says. "I love
singing. I was on the board of the Poetry Society of America for a while and
gave lots of poetry readings -- not my poetry, but great love poetry."
Feldon also has put together a one-woman show featuring music and literature
on the themes of love. She's been trying the show out in Pennsylvania and
Connecticut and hopes to bring it into New York.
"I thought of it as a cabaret, but the more I thought about it, I would
like it to be in a little theater where people could be right there
concentrating and not eating," Feldon says. "It takes a lot of
concentration to listen to really ravishing poetry."
.........................................................................................................................................................................
A Big Tip O' The Hat to Ryan Schroer for sending me this! Thanks, Ryan! J