“They wanted to call her ‘Agent 100′, but ’99’ seemed like a girls number,” said American character actress Barbara Feldon about her famous role as the  smart sidekick to ‘Agent 86’, ironically called Maxwell Smart played by Don Adams in the hit 60’s TV comedy Get Smart. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, it was a parody on the James Bond films and the Cold War politics of the time. Barbara’s character spent most of the show’s episodes trying to stop the dimwitted Smart from doing something stupid. Twice nominated for an Emmy, Barbara’s intelligent portrayal of ‘99′, always having the right answer, went against the trend in that era.…and is why I naturally had a boyhood crush on her.

I was watching a rerun of Get Smart a while back, deciding to draw this sketch and send it to Barbara at her apartment in the Upper East Side of Manhatten in New York. In next to no time it arrived back signed and dedicated, a great memento to add to my nostalgia.