THE MAN FROM UNCLE - Robert Vaughn - Napoleon Solo - A & BC Ltd, Card #46 - 1965

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy fiction television series broadcast on NBC . It follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum , who work for a secret international counter-espionage and law enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E. Originally, co-creator Sam Rolfe wanted to leave the meaning of U.N.C.L.E. ambiguous so it could refer to either "Uncle Sam " or the United Nations . Concerns by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 's (MGM) legal department about using "U.N." for commercial purposes resulted in the producers' clarification that U.N.C.L.E. was an acronym for the U nited N etwork C ommand for L aw and E nforcement. Each episode had an "acknowledgement" to the U.N.C.L.E. in the end titles.

The series premiered on September 22, 1964 and discontinued its run on January 15, 1968.

Background

The series consisted of 105 episodes originally screened between 1964 and 1968. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Arena productions. The first season was produced in black and white.

Ian Fleming contributed to the concepts after being approached by the show's co-creator, Norman Felton . The book The James Bond Films says Fleming proposed two characters, Napoleon Solo and April Dancer (The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. ). The original name was Ian Fleming's Solo. Robert Towne , Sherman Yellen , and Harlan Ellison wrote scripts for the series. Author Michael Avallone , who wrote the first original novelisation based upon the series (see below), is sometimes incorrectly cited as the show's creator.

Solo was supposed to have been the focus, but a scene featuring a Russian agent named Illya Kuryakin drew enthusiasm from the fans and the agents were paired.

Premise

The series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team working for U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement): American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn ), and Russian Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum ). Leo G. Carroll played Alexander Waverly , an English head of the organization. Barbara Moore joined the cast as Lisa Rogers in the fourth season.

The series, though fictional, achieved such cultural prominence that props, costumes and documents, and a video clip are in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library 's exhibit on spies and counterspies. Similar U.N.C.L.E. exhibits are in the museums of the Central Intelligence Agency and other US agencies and organizations gathering intelligence.

UNCLE: The organization

U.N.C.L.E. is an acronym for the fictional United Network Command for Law and Enforcement , a secret international intelligence agency, consisting of agents of all nationalities .

THRUSH: The main adversary

U.N.C.L.E.'s primary adversary was THRUSH (WASP in the pilot movie). The original series never divulged who or what THRUSH represented, nor was it ever used as an acronym. However, in the U.N.C.L.E. novels written by David McDaniel it is the T echnological H ierarchy for the R emoval of U ndesirables and the S ubjugation of H umanity, described as having been founded by Col. Sebastian Moran after the death of Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in the Sherlock Holmes story, "The Final Problem ".

THRUSH's aim was to conquer the world. Napoleon Solo said, in "The Green Opal Affair", "THRUSH believes in the two-party system — the masters and the slaves", and in the pilot episode ("The Vulcan Affair"), THRUSH "kills people the way people kill flies — a reflex action — a flick of the wrist." THRUSH was considered so dangerous an organization that even governments who were ideologically opposed to each other — such as the United States and the Soviet Union — had cooperated in forming and operating the U.N.C.L.E. organization. Similarly, when Solo and Kuryakin held opposing political views, the friction between them in the story was held to a minimum. Although executive producer Norman Felton and Ian Fleming conceived Napoleon Solo, it was producer Sam Rolfe who created the U.N.C.L.E. hierarchy. Unlike national organizations like the CIA and James Bond 's MI6 , U.N.C.L.E. was a global organization of agents from many countries and cultures. Illya Kuryakin was created by Rolfe as just such an agent, from the Soviet Union .

The creators decided an innocent character would be featured in each episode, giving the audience someone with whom to identify. Despite many changes over four seasons, "innocents" remained a constant — from a suburban housewife in the pilot, "The Vulcan Affair" (film version: To Trap a Spy ) to those kidnapped in the final episode, "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair".

Episodes

Filmed in color from late November to early December 1963 with locations at a Lever Brothers soap factory in California, the television pilot made as a 70 minute film was originally titled Ian Fleming's Solo and later just Solo . However, in February 1964 a law firm representing James Bond movie producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli demanded an end to the use of Fleming’s name in connection with the series and an end to use of the name and character "Solo", "Napoleon Solo" and "Mr. Solo". At that time filming was under way for the Bond movie Goldfinger , in which Martin Benson was playing a supporting character named "Mr. Solo". The claim was the name "Solo" had been sold to them by Fleming, and Fleming could not again use it. Within five days Fleming had signed an affidavit that nothing in the Solo pilot infringed any of his Bond characters, but the threat of legal action resulted in a settlement in which the name Napoleon Solo could be kept but the title of the show had to change.

The role of the head of U.N.C.L.E. in the pilot was Mr. Allison, played by Will Kuluva , rather than Mr. Waverly played by Leo G. Carroll, and David McCallum's Illya Kuryakin only had a brief role. Revisions to some scenes were shot for television, including those needed to feature Leo G. Carroll. The pilot episode was re-edited to 50 minutes to fit an hour time slot, converted to black and white, and shown on television as "The Vulcan Affair".

NBC in New York was not happy with the pilot. An executive wanted to drop someone but could not remember his name, saying "K — K — " and Felton replied "Kuluva?" and the executive replied "'That's it.'" Felton did not argue as he wanted to replace Kuluva anyway. Felton later told the executives he wanted to replace Kuluva with Leo G. Carroll. When the executive asked who was the actor Leo G. Carroll had replaced, Felton responded "Will Kuluva" and the executive said he meant David McCallum — Kuryakin. He wanted to get rid of the Russian and thought Carroll too old to be Solo's sidekick. Felton said the contracts had been signed.

Additional color sequences with Luciana Paluzzi were shot in April 1964 and added to the pilot for MGM to release it outside the United States as a second feature titled To Trap a Spy . It premiered in Hong Kong in November 1964. The extra scenes were reedited to tone down sexuality and used in the regular series in the episode "The Four-Steps Affair".

Beyond extra scenes for the feature film, and revised scenes shot and edits made for the television episode, there are other differences among the three versions of the story. Before the show went into full production there was concern from MGM that the name of T.H.R.U.S.H. for the pilot's international criminal organization sounded too much like SMERSH , the international spy-killing organization in Fleming's Bond series. The studio suggested Raven, Shark, Squid, Vulture, Tarantula, Snipe, Sphinx, Dooom, and Maggot (the last used in early scripts). Although no legal action took place, the name was dubbed as "WASP" in the feature version To Trap a Spy . The original pilot kept T.H.R.U.S.H. (presumably as it was not intended to be released to the public in that version). Felton and Rolfe pushed for the reinstatement of T.H.R.U.S.H. It turned out that WASP could not be used as Gerry Anderson 's British television series Stingray was based on an organization called W.A.S.P. — the World Aquanaut Security Patrol. By May 1964, T.H.R.U.S.H. was retained for the television episode edit of the pilot. Despite this, W.A.S.P. was used in the feature film in Japan in late 1964 and left in the U.S. release in 1966. Another change among the three versions of the pilot story was the cover name for the character of Elaine May Donaldson. In the original pilot it was Elaine Van Nessen; in the television version as well as the feature version it was Elaine Van Every. Illya Kuryakin's badge number is 17 in the pilot, rather than 2 during the series, and Solo's hair, after new footage was added, changed back and forth from a slicked back style to the less severe style he wore throughout the series.

With the popularity of the show and the spy craze, To Trap a Spy and the second U.N.C.L.E. feature The Spy with My Face were released in the United States as an MGM double feature in early 1966.

Season 1

The show's first season was in black and white . Rolfe created a kind of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland world, where mundane everyday life would intermittently intersect with the looking-glass fantasy of international espionage which lay just beyond. The U.N.C.L.E. universe was one where the weekly "innocent" would get caught up in a series of fantastic adventures, in a battle of good and evil. Rolfe also blended deadly suspense with a light touch, reminiscent of Hitchcock. In fact, U.N.C.L.E. owes just as much to Alfred Hitchcock as it does to Ian Fleming, the touchstones being Notorious (1946) where an innocent is recruited by a professional spy organization and North by Northwest (1959), where an innocent man is mistaken for an agent of a top-secret organization, one of whose top members is played by Leo G. Carroll. This role led directly to Carroll being cast as Mr. Waverly in the show.

U.N.C.L.E. headquarters in New York City was most frequently entered by a secret entrance in Del Floria's Tailor Shop. Another entrance was through The Masque Club. Mr. Waverly had his own secret entrance. Unlike the other TV series I Spy (also on NBC) however, the shows were overwhelmingly shot on the MGM back lot. The same building with an imposing exterior staircase was used for episodes set throughout the Mediterranean area and Latin America, and the same dirt road lined with eucalyptus trees on the back lot in Culver City stood in for virtually every continent of the globe. The episodes followed a naming convention where each title was in the form of "The ***** Affair", such as "The Vulcan Affair", "The Mad, Mad, Tea Party Affair", and "The Waverly Ring Affair", etc. The only exception was "Alexander the Greater Affair", parts 1 & 2. The first season episode "The Green Opal Affair" establishes that U.N.C.L.E. uses the term "Affair" to refer to its different missions.

Rolfe endeavored to make the implausible elements in the series seem not only feasible but entertaining. In the series, frogmen emerge from wells in Iowa , shootouts occur between U.N.C.L.E. and THRUSH agents in a crowded Manhattan movie theater, and top-secret organizations are hidden behind innocuous brownstone facades. The series began to dabble in science fictional plots , beginning with "The Double Affair" in which a THRUSH agent, made to look like Solo through plastic surgery, infiltrates a secret U.N.C.L.E. facility where an immensely powerful weapon called "Project Earthsave" is stored; according to the dialogue, the weapon was developed to protect against a potential alien threat to Earth. The Spy with My Face was the theatrical film version of this episode.

In its first season The Man from U.N.C.L.E. competed against The Red Skelton Show on CBS and Walter Brennan 's short-lived The Tycoon on ABC . During this time producer Norman Felton told Alan Caillou and several of the series writers to make the show more tongue in cheek .

Switching to color , U.N.C.L.E. continued to enjoy huge popularity. Succeeding Rolfe, who left the show at the conclusion of the first season, new showrunner David Victor read articles that called the show a spoof , and consequently that is what it became. Over the next three seasons, five different show runners would supervise the U.N.C.L.E. franchise, and each one took the show in a direction that differed considerably from that of the first season. Furthermore, U.N.C.L.E. had spawned a swarm of imitators. In 1964, it was the only American spy show on U.S. TV; by 1966, there were nearly a dozen. In an attempt to emulate the success of ABC 's mid-season hit Batman , which had proved hugely popular with its debut in early 1966, U.N.C.L.E. moved swiftly towards self-parody and slapstick. In contrast to other seasons, it had a recurring female character, Lisa Rogers, in ten episodes, played by Barbara Moore.

This campiness was most evident during the third season, when the producers made a conscious decision to increase the level of humor, though season two had moved in this direction in episodes such as "The Yukon Affair" and "The Indian Affairs Affair." With episodes like "The My Friend the Gorilla Affair" (which featured a scene in which Solo is shown dancing with a gorilla), the show tested the loyalties of its fans. This new direction resulted in a severe ratings drop, and nearly resulted in the show's cancellation. It was renewed for a fourth season and an attempt was made to go back to serious storytelling, but the ratings never recovered and U.N.C.L.E. was cancelled midway through the season.

Reunion TV movie

A reunion telefilm , Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. subtitled The Fifteen Years Later Affair, was broadcast on CBS in America on April 5, 1983, with Vaughn and McCallum reprising their roles, and Patrick Macnee replacing Leo G. Carroll , who had died in 1972, as the head of U.N.C.L.E. A framed picture of Carroll appeared on his desk. The movie included a tribute to Ian Fleming via a cameo appearance by an unidentified secret agent with the initials "J.B." The part was played by George Lazenby who was shown driving James Bond's trademark vehicle, an Aston Martin DB5 . One character, identifying him, says that it is "just like On Her Majesty's Secret Service ", which was Lazenby's only Bond film.

The movie, written by Michael Sloan and directed by Ray Austin , briefly filled in the missing years. T.H.R.U.S.H. has been put out of business, and the remaining leader was in prison. (His escape begins the story.) Illya, who quit U.N.C.L.E. after a mission went sour and an innocent woman was killed, now designs women's clothing at Vanya's in New York. Napoleon was pushed out of U.N.C.L.E., and now is employed selling computers. He still carries his U.N.C.L.E. pen radio for sentimental reasons and this is how the organization is able to contact him after so many years.

Solo and Kuryakin are recalled to recapture the escapee and defeat T.H.R.U.S.H. once and for all, but the movie misfired on a key point: instead of reuniting the agents on the mission and showcasing their witty interaction, the agents were separated and paired with younger agents. Like most similar reunion films, this production was considered a trial balloon for a possible new series which never materialized.

Although some personnel from the original series were involved (like composer Gerald Fried and director of photography Fred Koenekamp), the movie was not produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer but by Michael Sloan Productions in association with Viacom Productions - Sloan, Vaughn, and McCallum are pictured in the Michael Sloan Productions vanity card at the end of the movie.

Spin-off: The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.

The series was popular enough to generate a spin-off series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966-1967) The "girl" was first introduced during "The Moonglow Affair " (February 25, 1966) an episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and was then played by Mary Ann Mobley . The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. spin-off series ran for one season, starring Stefanie Powers as agent "April Dancer", a character name credited to Ian Fleming , and Noel Harrison as agent Mark Slate. There was some crossover between the two shows, and Leo G. Carroll played Mr. Waverly in both programs, becoming the second actor in American television to star as the same character in two separate series.

Theme music

The theme music, written by Jerry Goldsmith , changed slightly each season. Goldsmith provided only three original scores and was succeeded by Morton Stevens , who composed four scores for the series. After Stevens, Walter Scharf did six scores, and Lalo Schifrin did two. Gerald Fried was composer from season two through the beginning of season four. The final composers were Robert Drasnin (who also scored episodes of Mission: Impossible , as did Schifrin, Scharf, and Fried), Nelson Riddle (whose score for the two-part episode "The Concrete Overcoat Affair" was so loathed by Norman Felton that he never hired the composer again, although the music did get tracked into other third-season episodes), and Richard Shores.

The music reflected the show's changing seasons. Goldsmith, Stevens, and Scharf composed dramatic scores in the first season using brass, unusual time signatures and martial rhythms. Gerald Fried and Robert Drasnin opted for a lighter approach in the second, employing harpsichords and bongos. By the third season, the music, like the show, had become more camp, exemplified by an R&B organ and saxophone version of the theme. The fourth season's attempt at seriousness was duly echoed by Richard Shores' somber scores.

Guest stars and other actors

Apart from Solo, Kuryakin and Waverly, very few recurring characters appeared on the show with any regularity. As a result, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. featured a large number of high-profile guest performers during its three and a half year run.

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy appeared together in a 1964 episode, "The Project Strigas Affair", a full two years before Star Trek aired for the first time. Shatner played a heroic civilian recruited for an U.N.C.L.E. mission, and Nimoy played a rival of the villain's henchman. The villain was portrayed by Werner Klemperer . James Doohan appeared in multiple episodes, each time as a different character.

Barbara Feldon played an U.N.C.L.E. translator eager for field work in "The Never-Never Affair", one year before becoming one of the stars of the very different spy series Get Smart . Robert Culp played the villain in 1964's "The Shark Affair." Leigh Chapman appeared in a recurring role as Napoleon Solo's secretary, Sarah, for several episodes in 1965.

Woodrow Parfrey appeared five times as a guest performer, although he never received an opening-title credit. Usually cast as a scientist, he played the primary villain in only one episode, "The Cherry Blossom Affair." Another five-time guest star was Jill Ireland , who at the time was married to David McCallum . Ricardo Montalbán appeared in two episodes as the primary villain. "The Five Daughters Affair" featured a cameo appearance by Joan Crawford . Janet Leigh and Jack Palance appeared in "The Concrete Overcoat Affair" and Sonny and Cher made an appearance in the third season episode "The Hot Number Affair". Other notable guest stars included: Richard Anderson , Whitney Blake , Joan Blondell , Lloyd Bochner , Judy Carne , Roger C. Carmel , Ted Cassidy , Joan Collins , Walter Coy , Yvonne Craig , Broderick Crawford , Kim Darby , Albert Dekker , Ivan Dixon , Chad Everett , Anne Francis , Grayson Hall , Pat Harrington Jr. , James Hong , Jill Ireland , Allen Jenkins , Richard Kiel , Marta Kristen , Elsa Lanchester , Angela Lansbury , Julie London , Jack Lord , Lynn Loring , Leslie Nielsen , William Marshall , Eve McVeagh , Carroll O'Connor , David Opatoshu , Leslie Parrish , Eleanor Parker , Slim Pickens , Vincent Price , Dorothy Provine , Cesar Romero , Charles Ruggles , Kurt Russell , Telly Savalas , Nancy Sinatra , Guthrie Thomas, Terry-Thomas , Rip Torn , Fritz Weaver , and Elen Willard (in her last acting appearance).

Gadgets

Solo and Kuryakin, trained in martial arts , also had a range of useful spy equipment, including handheld satellite communicators to keep in contact with U.N.C.L.E. headquarters. A catchphrase often heard was "Open Channel D" when agents used their pocket radios; these were originally disguised as cigarette packs, later as cigarette cases , and still later as fountain pens . One of the original pen communicators is now in the museum of the Central Intelligence Agency. Replicas have been made over the years for other displays, and this is the second-most-identifiable prop from the series (closely following the U.N.C.L.E. Special pistol).

U.N.C.L.E. car

A few of the third-and fourth-season episodes featured an "U.N.C.L.E. car", which was a modified "Piranha Coupe", a plastic-bodied concept car based on the Chevrolet Corvair chassis built in limited numbers by custom car designer Gene Winfield . The U.N.C.L.E. car had been lost after the end of the TV series, but was found in Colorado in the early 1980s and restored to original condition by Robert Short of California.

Weaponry

One prop , designed by toy designer Reuben Klamer often referred to as "The Gun", drew so much attention that it actually spurred considerable fan mail, and often so addressed. Internally designated the "U.N.C.L.E. Special" , it was a modular semi-automatic weapon. The basic pistol could be converted into a longer-range carbine by attaching a long barrel, extendable shoulder stock, Bushnell telescopic sight, and extended magazine . In this "carbine mode", the pistol could fire on full automatic. This capability brought authorities to the set to investigate reports that the studio was manufacturing machine guns illegally. They threatened to confiscate the prop guns. It took a tour of the prop room to convince them that these were actually "dummy" pistols incapable of firing live ammunition. The actual pistol used as the prop was the Mauser Model 1934 Pocket Pistol , but it was unreliable, jammed constantly, and was dwarfed by the carbine accessories. It was soon replaced by the larger and more reliable Walther P38 .

The long magazine was actually a standard magazine with a dummy extension on it, but it inspired several manufacturers to begin making long magazines for various pistols. While many of these continue to be available 40 years later, long magazines were not available for the P-38 for some years.

The P38 fired the standard 9 mm bullet, although sometimes it was loaded with a special dart tipped with a fast-acting tranquilizer when it was preferable to have a live prisoner. The drug lasted, according to Solo, about two hours.

THRUSH had a range of weaponry of their own, much of it only in the development stage before being destroyed by the heroes. A notable item was the infra-red sniperscope , enabling them to aim gunfire in total darkness. A major design defect of the sniperscope was that its image tube's power supply emitted a distinctive whining sound when operating, giving away the shooter's concealed position. It also required a heavy battery and cable arrangement to power the scope. The prop was built from a U.S. Army-surplus M1 carbine with a vertical foregrip and barrel compensator, and using real Army surplus infrared scopes. The infra-red special effect was achieved using a searchlight to illuminate the target. The fully equipped carbines were seen only once, in "The Iowa Scuba Affair". After that, a mock-up of the scope was used to make handling easier.

German small arms were well represented in the series. Not only were P38s frequently seen (both as the U.N.C.L.E. Special and in standard configuration), but also the Luger P-08 pistol. In the pilot episode "The Vulcan Affair", Illya Kuryakin is carrying a standard U.S. Army .45 pistol . The "Broomhandle" Mauser carbines and MP 40 machine pistols were favored by opponents, both THRUSH and non-THRUSH. U.N.C.L.E. also used the MP 40. Beginning in the third season, both U.N.C.L.E and THRUSH used rifles which were either the Spanish CETME or the Heckler & Koch G3 , which was based on the CETME.

There were also an assortment of other weapons, ranging from sniper and military rifles to pistols of various caliber, plus swords, knives, bludgeons, staffs, chains, and the like.

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

• 1965: Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment – Actors and Performers (Nominated) – David McCallum
• 1965: Outstanding Program Achievements in Entertainment (Nominated) – Sam Rolfe
• 1966: Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series (Nominated) – David McCallum
• 1966: Outstanding Dramatic Series (Nominated) – Norman Felton
• 1966: Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama (Nominated) – Leo G. Carroll
• 1966: Individual Achievements in Music – Composition (Nominated) – Jerry Goldsmith
• 1967: Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama (Nominated) – Leo G. Carroll

Golden Globe Awards

• 1965: Best TV Star – Male (Nominated) – Robert Vaughn
• 1966: Best TV Star – Male (Nominated) – Robert Vaughn
• 1966: Best TV Star – Male (Nominated) – David McCallum
• 1966: Best TV Show (Won)
• 1967: Best TV Show (Nominated)

Grammy Awards

• 1966: Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show (Nominated)- Lalo Schifrin, Morton Stevens, Walter Scharf, Jerry Goldsmith

Logie Awards

• 1966: Best Overseas Show (Won)

Feature films

Theatrical releases of episodes

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. rated so highly in America and the UK that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the producers decided to film extra footage (often more adult to evoke Bond films) for two of the first season episodes and release them to theaters after they had aired on TV. The episodes with the extra footage that made it to theaters were the original pilot, "The Vulcan Affair", retitled To Trap a Spy and also from the first season, "The Double Affair" retitled as The Spy with My Face . Both had added sex and violence, new sub-plots and guest stars not in the original TV episodes. They were released in early 1966 as an U.N.C.L.E. double-feature program first run in neighborhood theaters, bypassing the customary downtown movie palaces which were still thriving in the mid-1960s and where new movies usually played for weeks and even months before coming to outlying screens.

A selling point to seeing these films theatrically was that they were being shown in color, at a time when most people had only black and white TVs (and indeed the two first-season episodes that were expanded to feature length, while filmed in color, were only broadcast in black and white). The words IN COLOR featured prominently on the trailers, TV spots, and posters for the film releases. The episodes used to make U.N.C.L.E. films were not included in the packages of television episodes screened outside the United States.

Subsequent two-part episodes, beginning with the second season premiere, "Alexander The Greater Affair", retitled One Spy Too Many for its theatrical release, were developed into one complete feature film with only occasional extra sexy and violent footage added to them, sometimes as just inserts. In the case of One Spy Too Many, a subplot featuring Yvonne Craig as an U.N.C.L.E. operative carrying on a flirtatious relationship with Solo was also added to the film; Craig does not appear in the television episodes.

The later films were not released in America, only overseas, but the first few did well in American theaters and remain one of the rare examples of a television show released in paid theatrical engagements. With the exception of the two-part episode "The Five Daughters Affair", shown as part of Granada Plus 's run of the series, the episodes which became movies have never aired on British television.

The films in the series:

• To Trap a Spy (1964)
• The Spy with My Face (1965)
• One Spy Too Many (1966)
• One of Our Spies Is Missing (1966)
• The Spy in the Green Hat (1966)
• The Karate Killers (1967)
• The Helicopter Spies (1968)
• How to Steal the World (1968)