Answer: Maxwell Smart

What are the chances that a single actor would portray a satirical bumbling secret agent in a popular TV series and a satirical bumbling police detective in a popular TV cartoon show? For most actors, the chances would be slim, but for American actor and comedian Don Adams, it was a perfect fit.

Adam’s career spanned five decades on American television, but he’s best known for his role as Maxwell Smart on the hit 1960s TV series Get Smart—a satirical take on the spy movies and TV shows that were common fare at the time.

Years later, however, he had another role—albeit one in which the majority of his fans were far too young to be intimately familiar with Get Smart. From 1983 to 1986, Don Adams was the voice of the animated bumbling cyborg police detective Inspector Gadget in the eponymous cartoon series.

Both roles were perfect for the actor, whose air of innocence and excellent comedic timing paired well with the roles and the necessary naivete that accompanied them.