Dave Ketchum, who played the exasperated, always-hidden Agent 13 on the beloved 1960s comedy Get Smart, has died. He was 97.
Our sister publication THR reported that Ketchum died August 10, but the family did not provide details.
Born on February 4, 1928, Ketchum toured with USO and had a local radio show in California before getting his acting start in the early 1960s with guest roles on such TV series as The Jim Backus Show, Angel and The Real McCoys. He then landed a series-regular role on I’m Dickens — He’s Fenster, an ABC sitcom starring Marty Ingels and John Astin. It lasted one season in 1962-63.
Around that time, Ketchum released a comedy album titled The Long Playing Tongue of Dave Ketchum. Despite arriving during the Golden Age of recorded comedy, it failed to chart.
Ketchum continued to do TV guest stints before being cast to lead Camp Runamuck. He played senior counselor Spiffy in the NBC comedy that also aired a single season in 1965-66.
Then came his signature role.
Ketchum joined NBC’s Get Smart for its second season in 1966, playing opposite Don Adams’ Maxwell Smart. He soon becoming a fan favorite. He recurred as Agent 13, the usually griping and always put-upon operative who seemed to draw the short stick whenever it came to surveillance. His 13 would be concealed in ridiculously small and hilarious ways: He’d be stuck in a mailbox or, toilet or trash can or storage locker or cigarette vending machine. He was once famously spun around in a washing machine once. The gag was memorable.
Driven by the popularity of the James Bond films, the CONTROL-vs.-KAOS sitcom also starred Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. Along with one of TV’s greatest opening credits, a number of the show’s catchphrases would become pop-culture lore, such as “Missed it by that much,” “I think it’s only fair to warn you …,” “Sorry about that, Chief,” “I demand the Cone of Silence,” “… and loving it.” Ketchum’s running bit fit right in with the kitchen-sink comedy of series creators Buck Henry and Mel Blanc.
Ketchum’s Get Smart run was just that second season and for an episode in the third. He also wrote one episode. He later appeared in character with Adams in a funny ad for series sponsor Pepsodent and resurrected Agent 13 for the 1989 TV movie Get Smart, Again! He did it once more for the 1995 Fox reboot of Get Smart, which ran for about four months in 1995.
After his original Agent 13 gig, Ketchum landed a job writing for Hey, Landlord, a series co-created by Garry Marshall in which Ketchum had small on-screen roles. That led to a long working relationship with Marshall that including writing for and/or acting in a number of his comedy projects including 1970s megahits Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, along with The Odd Couple, Mork & Mindy and the 1982 feature Young Doctors in Love.
Ketchum also wrote for such popular TV series as M*A*S*H, Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, The Love Boat, MacGyver, Perfect Strangers, T.J. Hooker, Too Close for Comfort, Highway to Heaven, Full House, Love – American Style and many others.
All the while, Ketchum continued to land guest TV shots. He appeared on a number of hit series including The Carol Burnett Show, The Andy Griffith Show/Mayberry R.F.D., Petticoat Junction, Mod Squad, That Girl, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Alice and Perfect Strangers. He also was in five episodes of Happy Days, playing three different characters.
Ketchum had a number of big-screen roles, appearing in Bless the Beasts & Children (1971), Love at First Bite (1979), The Main Event (1979) and The Other Sister (1999), among others.
Per THR, Ketchum’s survivors include his wife of 68 years, Louise; their daughters Nicole and Wendy; three grandchildren and a great-grandson.
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