MAXWELL SMART FOUGHT EVIL AND GOT LAUGHS

Don Adams, the Emmy Award-winning comic-actor who played bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart on the hit 1960s spy-spoof series "Get Smart," died Sunday of a lung infection. He was 82. The clever and satirical sit-com, created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, was filled with sight gags (one character, Agent 13, hid in mailboxes, water fountains and clocks), and ingenious gimmicks (Smart famously phoned headquarters with a dial phone implanted in the sole of his shoe). "Get Smart" spawned two of the most popular catch phrases of the decade: "Sorry about that" and "Would you believe . . .?" The latter was uttered by Smart whenever someone didn't believe one of his preposterous fabrications--as illustrated by the time KAOS' Mr. Big (played by Michael Dunn, a dwarf) cornered Smart and was ready to kill him. Thinking fast, Smart says, "At the moment seven Coast Guard cutters are converging on us. Would you believe it?" Mr. Big: I find that hard to believe." Smart: "Hmmm . . . Would you believe six?" Mr. Big: "I don't think so." Smart: "How about two cops in a rowboat?" "Get Smart" won two Emmys for best comedy series and Adams received three Emmys for his leading role in a comedy series.