In the mid 1960s, the world could not get enough of James Bond. The phenomenon which was triggered by "007" shortly after the release of "Goldfinger", was everywhere. And it wasn't only Bond and Bond fans who benefitted. An entire genre received a huge boost of interest.
There's a tendency to lump all these various characters in the general category of Bond "wannabe". In reality, however, there are many, many differences between them. The best had their own good points quite independent of Bond. These characters can stand on their own, Bond influence aside. The worst, well, they were little more than pale copies.
What follows is a look at the major espionage-oriented characters that were propelled in popularity during Bond mania.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968).
This American television series can legitimately claim a connection to James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Norman Felton, a native of Britain then living in the U.S., contacted Fleming in 1963. Felton, the executive producer of the "Dr. Kildare" television series, wanted to produce an action series, but with a different "hook". He had yet to find that "hook". At the time, U.S. interest was picking up in the Bond character, but 007 wasn't a huge hit just yet.
Ian Fleming pulled out of the collaboration before things progressed very far. He had just come out of the litigation over the "Thunderball" novel, and his counsel advised him to steer clear of the television project. However, Fleming penned a variety of ideas for Felton, ironically enough, some on Western Union telegram blanks. Felton wasn't interested in very many of Fleming's ideas, but liked his character name for the hero -- Napoleon Solo. Further, Fleming envisioned Solo as an ordinary looking man (no taller than average, for example) who was Canadian. He also described a Miss Moneypenny-type character he dubbed April Dancer.
Felton, spurned by Fleming, then turned to American writer/producer Sam Rolfe. Rolfe earlier had unsuccessfully tried to sell an adventure series to network television he called "St. George and the Dragon." Reworking much of that same material, the partners came up with their espionage/thriller idea, which was to develop into the "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." At least 90 percent of the finished
product is Rolfe's, but it could be argued that Felton and Fleming created the Napoleon Solo character. The April Dancer name would be used later for the lead character in "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E." spinoff series.
Despite these ties, U.N.C.L.E. is quite different from Bond. Solo's organization is multi-national, as opposed to Bond being a British agent. Further, Solo was paired with Illya Kuryakin, a Russian. He was Rolfe's creation, though writer Alan Calliou fleshed out many of Kuryakin's personality quirks: quiet, aloof, and with (weirdly enough) an extremely full knowledge of gypsies. It would be difficult to imagine Ian Fleming's James Bond working alongside a Russian agent in 1964. Both Felton and Rolfe were political liberals, and believed in the viability and necessity of concepts such the United Nations, for example. Clearly, U.N.C.L.E. was a kind of "optimistic" spy show, with people of different nations uniting against common foes.
Originally, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E" was to have been called "Solo." Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, attempting to prevent the series from being produced and thereby diluting the "Bond" market, sued, claiming "overlapping" of EON owned material, and successfully changed some of the series' aspects. Broccoli claimed "Solo" was the name of a character from "Goldfinger". Indeed, one of the hoods supplying Goldfinger was named Solo, but Felton and MGM (where the TV series was filmed) noted the "Goldfinger" Solo was a criminal, while their Napoleon Solo was a hero. Broccoli settled in return for the name of the TV series being changed. Also, the television series made it clear Solo was American, not Canadian.
U.N.C.L.E.'s main enemy was a criminal organization known as Thrush - The "Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity". How's that for over the top! While similar to Fleming's SPECTRE, Thrush was far larger. A second-season episode disclosed that Thrush had 2,000 members in the western U.S. alone. A third-season episode (written by Harlan Ellison) claims the organization had more than $1.6 billion in assets. Plot-lines had a much stronger science-fiction slant as well.
MFU enjoyed two strong seasons. During the 1966-67 season however, NBC wanted lighter, campier adventures. "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E." was beginning production, and was affected by the same decision. The move proved disastrous, with MFU losing its audience at an alarming rate. GFU was cancelled after only one season, and MFU was in a precarious position. There was a "back to basics" movement in the fourth season, but it was too late. The show was unable to recapture its audience, and was cancelled in mid-season. It was unfortunate because the show (creatively, at least) was regaining momentum.
Bond and MFU, though, do have a number of other things in common. Many MFU guest stars would later appear in Bond movies: Telly Savalas, Curt Jurgens, and Richard Kiel, for example. Bond and Solo both carried guns made by Walther - Bond the PPK; Solo a modified P38. Finally, one-time James Bond George Lazenby appeared as the mysterious Aston Martin-driving "JB" in the 1983 TV movie "The Return of The Man From U.N.C.L.E."
The excellent theme music was by Jerry Goldsmith, who composed a few first-season scores. Other musical contributors included Lalo Schifrin, Morton Stevens, Gerald Fried and Richard Shores.
The Avengers (1961-1969); The New Avengers (1976-1977)
Long-running British spy-oriented show. The only real constant was Patrick MacNee as the debonair British operative John Steed. Over the course of the two series, Steed worked with a doctor (Ian Hendry), three women partners (Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg and Linda Thorson)and, in a late-1970s revival, a man-and-woman partner (Gareth Hunt and Joanna Lumley). The original series didn't make it to the U.S. until 1966, when Diana Rigg as "Emma Peel" caught the imagination of Americans.
The original series was much more fantasy-filled than the Bond films of the time. The 1970s revivalseries was a bit more serious than its predecessor.
Both series had many Bond connections. Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg both starred in Bond movies. 
Macnee finally appeared in a Bond movie in 1985, though his character was killed off early on. Joanna Lumley actually appeared in a Bond movie first ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service", which of course also starred Rigg as Bond's doomed bride Tracy), then co-starred in the 1970s series. Among character actors who appeared in both productions were Vladek Sheybal, James Villiers, Philip Locke, Julian Glover, Eunice Gayson, Douglas Wilmer, Burt Kwouk, and Steven Berkoff. Notable guest stars included Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Charlotte Rampling.
The Avengers series never took itself too seriously. In a favorite example, after Blackman left the show, there was a humorous episode in which Steed tells Emma Peel he has just received a postcard
from Cathy Gale (Blackman's character) was postmarked from Fort Knox."Wonder what she's doing there?" Steed asks.
The best episodes were written by the likes of Philip Levene, Brian Clemens and Dennis Spooner.
I Spy (1965-1968)
A breakthrough TV series, with an African-American sharing top billing with a white man. Robert Culp and Bill Cosby were U.S. agents Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott, whose cover was a tennis pro and his trainer. "I Spy" was a much darker, more realistic (relatively speaking) series than MFU. Robinson and Scott generally battled Russian and Chinese spies. The executive producer was Sheldon Leonard, who died in early 1997. Apparently inspired by Bond and Broccoli, the show main titles began, "Sheldon Leonard presents," with Culp's and Cosby's names following. This is notable as Leonard didn't use the "presents" credit in any of his many other shows.
"I Spy" was created and produced by Morton Fine and David Friedkin.For whatever reason, they did not receive creator credit until a 1994 reunion TV movie.
"I Spy" had many more ambiguous situations than 007 or MFU. It was not always clear who was good or evil, and many shades of gray were explored. One early show, ("A Cup of Kindness," written by Fine and Friedkin), had Robinson, (Culp), with pangs of conscience while meeting with his mentor Russ Conley (played by Friedkin). Robinson has been ordered to kill Conley because it was discovered the older man was a double agent. Other shows had the agents going to Vietnam, a subject generally avoided in most popular entertainment at the time.
The theme was by Earle Hagen, who composed music for most of Leonard's programs, including The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Hagen also composed much of the incidental music, though Hugo Friedhofer also wrote some episode scores.
"The Wild, Wild West" (1965-1969)
Spy series set in the old west, this series may have been the most fanciful spy-oriented show. U.S. Secret Service agents James West and Artemus Gordon battled dwarf mad scientists, (Michael Dunn's Dr. Loveless), sinister magicians, (Victor Buono's Count Manzeppi), and 19th century cyborgs (played by John Dehner). While it has been remarked that Robert Conrad has an acting range of "oak to pine," his athletic ability was a major plus. Ross Martin as Gordon was a likable presence as the master of disguise and 19th century technology Artemus.
The show was actually doing well enough to merit renewal at the end of the 1968-69 season. However, CBS executives -- under fire for airing violent shows -- pulled the plug. One of the show's most imaginative writers was John Knubuhl, who penned five of the ten "Loveless" episodes and several others. The distinctive theme music was written by Richard Markowitz. CBS, however, didn't grant the composer a credit except for episodes where he also did the incidental music. Markowitz finally received an on-screen credit for the theme in the 1979 "The Wild, Wild West Revisited" TV movie.
"Mission: Impossible" (1966-1973)
Spy show that emphasized the technical side of espionage. Each week, we followed the exploits of a
mysterious U.S. spy team. Evidently, the team members only worked part time as they also held careers as actors, businessmen, etc.
M:I was very stylish. It would open with the team leader (Steven Hill as Dan Briggs in the first season; Peter Graves as Jim Phelps thereafter) receiving the episode's mission in an out-of-the-way
location. We would see Briggs/Phelps cryptically discuss the mission with his agents -- just enough to pique our interest but not enough to figure it out. Note in these "briefing" scenes that the agents are all wearing white, black or gray.
M:I was a very tension-filled show. Creator/executive producer Bruce Geller only wrote the pilot. Writers William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter, in effect, re-created the show. Their first show (the fifth episode aired) was pivotal. Woodfield and Balter established that the M:I team would con their adversaries (the pilot was more of a caper-type plot). Woodfield and Balter (who became producers by the third season) felt they knew the show better than Geller. M:I enjoyed a couple of season's success, but then Woodfield and Balter left in the middle of the third season, a huge loss.
Also a problem: Paramount (which took control of the show when it bought Desilu studios) tried to pare down M:I's expensive production costs. That led to another huge loss when Martin Landau, perhaps M:I's most popular star as disguise artist Rollin Hand, left after the third season over a salary dispute. By the fifth season, M:I restricted its exploits to criminals, and dropped spy stories.
Tom Cruise's M:I movie was a travesty, turning Phelps (played by Jon Voight) into a villain. The movie also ignored how M:I was about a team; in the film Cruise did almost everything alone.
On the positive hand, Lalo Schifrin's theme music is truly classic.
"Matt Helm" (numerous novels, 4 movies)
American series of spy novels started by Donald Hamilton in 1960, with the most recent installment in 1993. In the novels, Helm works for an unnamed agency that does the dirtiest of jobs. In effect, Helm (code name: Eric) kills assassins before they can set up their targets. In many ways, Hamilton is much like the Mickey Spillane of the spy genre, "I crushed his kidney with a crowbar", (not an exact quote but close). In the first book, "Death of a Citizen," a retired Helm is forced back into the espionage game. His wife, unaware of his violent past, ends up divorcing him. The fanciful plots eased the reader in.the movies are a different case entirely.
Producer Irving Allen, Albert R. Broccoli's former partner, used Hamilton's books as the basis for a spy spoof starring Dean Martin. According to Nick Tosches' biography of Martin, ol' Dino forced Allen into a partnership. The films were listed as being a "Meadway-Claude Production." Claude was
Martin's production company. All of this was ironic because Allen had ended his partnership with Broccoli over the fact Allen felt the Bond novels (which Broccoli had a keen interest in) were worthless.
The films are much like a movie version of Martin's television variety show, with him mugging and essentially winking at the audience. None of it was to be taken seriously. The best film was the original, "The Silencers." The last, "The Wrecking Crew," is a trivia lover's dream -- Sharon Tate's last film, Chuck Norris' first (he plays a thug), and fight scenes arranged by Bruce Lee. A lot of literary fans despise the Helm films for these excesses, though there are some who enjoy both, despite the huge differences in approach.
George Smiley (several novels by John Le Carre)
Smiley is the ultimate "anti-Bond", a middle-aged, dumpy looking fellow. But he possesses a steel-trap mind. Smiley was a secondary character in "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," and later became the star of Le Carre's morally ambiguous world of espionage. Smiley hit his peak when Sir Alec Guiness played the role in two British television productions.
But LeCarre and his rabid fans evidently felt the need to denigrate Fleming and Bond. In a U.S.
television interview, LeCarre opined that it would be easy for the KGB to get Bond to defect -- just throw more women at him. One of LeCarre's most public fans was Robert MacNeil, formerly of PBS, who also ran down Bond on a PBS program while extolling the virtues of George Smiley. LeCarre has also said he would have written his books anyway, but admitted that Bond created a market for Smiley.
"Harry Palmer" (books by Len Deighton, three films in the 1960s)
Like Smiley, Palmer was an anti-Bond. He was cowardly and wore glasses. Ironically, the three Palmer films were produced by Harry Saltzman, Broccoli's partner at Eon Productions. The first film, "The Ipcress File" also had John Barry on music, editing by Peter Hunt and production design by Ken Adam. The second, "Funeral in Berlin," was directed by Guy Hamilton. And the finale, "Billion Dollar Brain," had main titles designed by Maurice Binder.
Today, Harry Palmer is back. Actually, he was back two years ago but nobody knew it -- at least in the U.S. A new production (made in 1995) called "Bullet to Beijing" featuring Caine as Palmer has
surfaced on The Movie Channel, one of Viacom's cable networks. The Wall Street Journal gave it a very favorable review in early April and lamented its lack of wider distribution. Walt Disney Co. had the rights to distribute the film in theaters but took a pass because of the success of "GoldenEye." Another Palmer film with Caine apparently is completed but it's not known yet when it will be released.
Derek Flint (two films)
One of the best Bond spoofs. Flint technically didn't work for anyone. But a harried Lloyd Kramden (Lee J. Cobb), kept calling on Flint to help out Z.O.W.I.E. (the Zonal Organization for World Intelligence and Espionage). Highlights of the Flint movies included two fine scores by Jerry Goldsmith, and James Coburn as Flint. The series was quite a bit of fun.
Hawaii Five-O (1968-1980)
U.S. police show actually had a strong espionage bent in its early seasons. Also, in the first few years,
Five-O chief Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) was depicted as irresistible to women.
In the series pilot, a U.S. intelligence agent who was also a close friend of McGarrett's turns up dead. McGarrett then uncovers a plot by Chinese spy Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh) to brainwash agents and destroy the U.S. intelligence network in the Pacific.
The first draft of creator Leonard Freeman's script describes Wo Fat as a "little Buddha." The original draft also had only one "haole" (McGarrett), and three Hawaiian characters. Evidently, somebody decided they needed another haole and the character of Dan Williams, aka Danno, was born.
Tim O'Kelly played Danno in the pilot, with James MacArthur not being cast until the series went into production. In the pilot, U.S. spymaster Jonathan Kaye (James Gregory in the pilot, numerous actors in the series), recruits McGarrett to be the bait for a trap -- McGarrett will be hypnotized to give out wrong information. Evidently, McGarrett also earns a huge IOU; for the rest of the series, he'll get involved in all sorts of national security cases which is quite impressive considering McGarrett is a state policeman.
Espionage and similar themes figured into many of the series' best shows. Among them: "Three Dead Cows at Makapuu," a two-part episode about a scientist who will turn loose a deadly bacteria as a
way to force the U.S. to give up bacteriological warfare research; "F.O.B. Honolulu," a two-part show where the Chinese, Russians and various criminal types are pursuing perfect $20 counterfeit plates; "The Ninety-Second War," wherein Wo Fat frames McGarrett; and "Nine Dragons," a two-hour, 1976 episode in which Wo Fat (now having gone independent) attempts a coup in China after which he will launch nuclear missiles upon the U.S.
A highlight of the series was fine music by a number of composers including Morton Stevens (who also wrote the theme music), Richard Shores, Bruce Broughton and others.
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