The Directors

The following is a complete list of the directors of Get Smart. Where appropriate, I've added some notes on the director's non-Smart career but I did not try and list every credit for the directors. For more information on their careers, try The Internet Movie Database. *Thanks to Chris from Australia for the count on the directors.

Gary Nelson - 23
Nelson had a successful post-Get Smart career. Among the TV shows he's directed are Hunter, Mike Hammer, Police Story, Love, American Style, and The Return of Ironside. He also directed the feature films Freaky Friday, The Black Hole, and Nighthawks. He also directed Get Smart Again.
Kisses for KAOS
The Dead Spy Scrawls
The Amazing Harry Hoo
Hubert's Unfinished Symphony
Strike While the Agent is Hot
Hoo Done It
Island of the Darned
Where-What-How-Who Am I?
The Expendable Agent
How to Succeed in the Spy Business Without Really Trying
Maxwell Smart, Alias Jimmy Ballantine
The Spy Who Met Himself
The Mysterious Dr. T
The Mild Ones
The King Lives
The Hot Line
Die, Spy
The Secret of Sam Vittorio
The Worst Best Man
Return of the Ancient Mariner
With Love and Twitches
To Sire, With Love I
Leadside

Bruce Bilson (1928- )- 22
Bilson has been a prolific television director. Among the series he has worked on are Bonanza, Love, American Style, Barney Miller, Hunter, Touched By an Angel, and The Sentinel. He also directed the classic TV movie, "The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders."
Too Many Chiefs
My Nephew the Spy
Weekend Vampire
Back to the Old Drawing Board
All in the Mind
Smart the Assassin
Ship of Spies I & II
Anatomy of a Lover
A Spy for a Spy
The Only Way to Die
Rub a Dub Dub, Three Spies in a Sub
Perils in a Pet Shop
Kiss of Death
The Man from YENTA
Smart Fit the Battle of Jericho
Maxwell Smart, Private Eye
    Bilson won the Emmy for Directing in a Comedy Series for this episode
99 Loses CONTROL
Run, Robot, Run
The Impossible Mission
Closely Watched Planes
Schwartz's Island

Don Adams - 13
Appointment in Sahara
Don't Look Back
Hurray for Hollywood
Tequilla Mockingbird
The Not-so-Great Escape I & II
Pheasant Under Glass
Ironhand
The Treasure of C. Errol Madre
And Baby Makes Four I & II
And Only Two 99
What's It All About Algie?

James Komack (1930 - 97)- 13
Komack has had a very successful career as an actor and director. As an actor, he's probably best known for The Courtship of Eddie's Father. As a director, he worked on Star Trek, The Green Hornet, the Monkees, and Porky's Revenge. He also co-created Welcome Back Kotter.
Viva Smart
Witness for the Persecution
Supersonic Boom
Dr. Yes
That Old Gang of Mine
The Groovy Guru
The Little Black Book I & II
The Wax Max
Operation Ridiculous
Spy, Spy, Birdie
The Reluctant Redhead
Temporarily Our of CONTROL

Earl Bellamy (1917 - 2003)- 7
Bellamy had a long and distinguished career as a director. He worked on tons of Westerns and also the famous film, Munster Go Home. He also directed many episodes of Isis, Daniel Boone, and Starsky and Hutch.
It Takes One to Know One
Somebody Down Here Hates Me
Cutback at CONTROL
The Mummy
A Man Called Smart, Parts I,II, & III

Alan Rafkin (1928 - 2001)- 6
Rafkin has worked on the TV shows Murphy Brown and Love, American Style. He also directed some classic Don Knotts films, including The Shakiest Gun in the West. Rafkin has passed away, but I'm unsure of the date.
Smart Fell on Alabama
Physician Impossible
Moonlighting Becomes You
Witness for the Execution
Hello Columbus, Goodbye America
Do I Hear a Vaults?

Charles Rondeau  (1917 - 1996)- 5
Rondeau also directed episodes of Wonder Woman, Barney Miller, Kojak, & Rawhide).
Widow Often Annie
Rebecca of Funnyfolk Farm
The Mess of Adrian Listenger
Smartacus

Jay Sandrich (1932 - )- 5
Sandrich, who also produced a season of Get Smart, is considered to be the greatest sitcom director of all time. He directed episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore show and its spinoffs, Soap, The Golden Girls, The Cosby Show, and many others.
The Laser Blazer
The Farkas Fracas
I Shot 86 Today
To Sire, With Love II
Shock it To Me

William Waird (1928 - 87)- 5
Waird worked on some other classic shows, including Bonanza, M*A*S*H, & The Rockford Files.
Casablanca
The Decoy
Bronzefinger
The Whole Tooth
The Girls From KAOS

Frank McDonald (1899 - 1980)- 5
McDonald directed almost 100 films in his career, both pre and post Get Smart. The most famous are The Purple Gang, Submarine Alert, and Tuxedo Junction.
The Day Smart Turned Chicken
Satan Place
Aboard the Orient Express
Survival of the Fattest
Double Agent

Murray Golden (unknown - 1991)- 3
Among the many shows Golden directed were Star Trek, The Green Hornet, The Fugitive, and The Detectives.
Dear Diary
I'm Only Human
Stakeout on Blue Mist Mountain

Reza S. Badiyi (1936 - )- 3
Badiyi directed many films and TV shows, including The Rockford Files and Falcon Crest. According to the Directors' Guild of America, Badiyi has directed more hours of episodic television than any other director. Get Smart directors Bruce Bilson and Gary Nelson are second and third in that category.
Snoopy Smart vs. the Red Baron
The Day They Raided the Knights
Ice Station Siegfried

Paul Bogart (1919 - )- 3
Bogart worked on The Golden Girls, and All in the Family, as well as directing feature films, among them Torch Song Trilogy and Oh God, You Devil.
Diplomat's Daughter
School Days
Now You See Him, Now You Don't

Don Richardson (1919 - 96)- 2
Among the other shows he directed were The Munsters, Emergency!, and One Day at a Time.
Our Man in Toyland
KAOS in CONTROL

Richard Donner (1930 - )- 2
Donner is one of the more successful directors in Hollywood, having directed Maverick, Superman, The Lethal Weapon series, and The Omen. He also directed episodes of The Twilight Zone, Combat, The Streets of San Francisco, and Cannon.
Washington 4, Indians 3
Our Man in Leotards

Richard Benedict (1920 - 1984)- 2
Benedict did a ton of work on other shows, including I Spy, Quincy, Hawaii 5-0, Fantasy Island, and Charlie's Angels.
Absorb the Greek
The Apes of Rath

Sydney Miller - 2
Pussycats Galore
When Good Fellow Get Together

David Alexander (1915 - 1983) - 2
Among the other shows Alexander worked on were Star Trek, The Real McCoys, & Quincy.
Shipment to Beirut
The Last One in is a Rotten Spy

Tony Leader (1913 - 88) - 2
A prolific director, he also worked on The Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, I Spy, Star Trek, and Hawaii 5-0.
House of Max, I & II

Jerry Hopper  (1907 - 88)- 2
Hopper directed over ten movies and several TV shows, including The Fugitive and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
Diamonds Are a Spy's Best Friend
A Tale of Two Tails

Norman Abbott (1922 - )- 2
The nephew of comedian Bud Abbott, he also worked on When Things Were Rotten, Alice, and Welcome Back Kotter.
The Spirit is Willing
Classification: Dead

Harry Falk - (1933 - )2
Falk also directed TJ Hooker, Magnum P.I., Centennial, That Girl, & The Rockford Files.
One Nation Invisible
Age Before Duty

Ron Joy - 1
Is This Trip Necessary?

Joshua Shelley - 1
Shelly worked on another Brooks project, When Things Were Rotten, as well as M*A*S*H.
The Greatest Spy on Earth

Edward Ryder (1923- 97) - 1
He directed episodes of The Bob Newhart show, and as an actor appeared in Silent Movie and High Anxiety.
Greer Window

Jess Oppenheimer - 1
Oppenheimer is best known for his working directing the many incarnations of Lucille Ball's television show.
One of Our Olives is Missing

Nick Webster - 1
Webster deserves special mention for directing the camp classic, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. He also worked on The Waltons and Big Valley.
I Am Curiously Yellow

Dick Carson - 1
Dick Carson is Johnny Carson's brother and directed hundreds of commercials during his career.
How Green Was My Valet

Howard Morris (1919 - 2005)- 1
Morris worked as a writer and actor on Your Show of Shows and has had a successful career as both. He also worked in Life Stinks and High Anxiety.
Mr. Big


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Copyright 1995-2003 Carl Birkmeyer