Pat Harrington Jr. dies; actor appeared on spy TV

Pat Harrington as a dog expert with David McCallum in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Pat Harrington Jr., a comic and actor who also made appearances in spy television shows, died Jan. 6 at age 86, ACCORDING TO AN OBITUARY IN THE WASHINGTON POST.

The Post’s obit, understandably, concentrates on Harrington’s role in the situation comedy One Day at a Time, which ran from 1975 to 1984. But he also had acting appearances related to the spy craze of the 1960s.

His main spy credits were his three guest appearances on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. In the first season’s The Bow-Wow Affair, the first episode with David McCallum’s Illya Kuryakin getting the primary attention, Harrington was a dog expert named Guido Panzini.

Panzini was an Italian character Harrington had played before, including the Steve Allen version of The Tonight Show. Harrington’s Panzini was there mostly as comedy relief but the character provided Kuryakin with some major assistance against a gypsy who was blackmailing rich people by having their dogs attack them.

This all sounds a bit far out, but the episode is considered a favorite among many U.N.C.L.E. fans. Harrington also appeared in two third-season U.N.C.L.E. episodes.

His other ’60s spy appearance is more of a footnote. In AN EPISODE OF F-TROOP, a Western comedy, Harrington did a parody of Don Adams’ Maxwell Smart. In other words, Harrington’s B Wise was a parody of a parody.

One more, somewhat obscure credit: Harrington was also the voice of The Atom in superhero cartoons produced by Filmation and based on DC Comics in the 1960s.

1966: F Troop’s spy parody of a spy parody

Spy B Wise shows off a gadget to Capt. Parmenter

In 1966, everybody was getting in on the spy game, even the Western comedy F Troop. But instead of directly parodying James Bond, the Warner Bros. show instead did a takeoff of a takeoff.

In Spy, Counterspy, Counter Counterspy, the U.S. War Department has developed a top secret weapon, a bullet proof vest. It’s to be tested at Fort Courage, whose commanding officer is the bumbling Capt. Wilton Parmenter (Ken Berry).

Security for the test is handed to top secret spy B Wise (Pat Harrington Jr.), who mimics the rapid fire delivery of Don Adams on Get Smart. He even says, “Sorry about that!” (without saying chief) and has a gimmicked shoe (which has a gun instead of a telephone).

The thing is, when this episode aired on ABC, it coincided with Get Smart’s first season on NBC. Adams infused Maxwell Smart with some of his own comedy bits, but F Troop more or less does a full takeoff on Max and didn’t wait very long to do so. Meanwhile, there’s a woman spy (Abbe Lane) prowling about and one of the spies is a traitor.