Barbara Feldon Still Gets Called 99

When actress Barbara Feldon buys a coffee at her favourite local deli in New York City, she's given the same order number every time - 99.

It's a sweet reminder of her days as Control Agent 99, the level-headed and competent sidekick of Maxwell Smart in the popular 1960s TV sitcom Get Smart.

Feldon says she's always embraced being part of the series that wrapped more than 40 years ago, and it seems people can still only see the agent in her.

"I ordered something the other day to be delivered and I told the guy my name and that didn't ring a bell even though I go in there all the time and he knows me," Feldon told AAP from her New York City apartment.

"So I said `This is 99' and he was 'Oh, my gosh, sorry'."

Now 82, Feldon has all but retired from acting. She makes the rare off-Broadway appearance and does the odd poetry reading,,

"Unless the project was really, really interesting, I am not pursuing it," Feldon said.

Like a lot of actors and actresses who starred in successful TV sitcoms of the 1960s and early 70s, Feldon got fame and not the fortune for appearing in Get Smart.

The role all but killed off her movie career because she was so heavily identified with Agent 99 and reruns of the show ensured it stayed that way for decades.

"I've never complained about the identification with the show. It's made my life so very sweet," Feldon said.

"I didn't get residuals, but I feel so utterly fortunate to be a part of it.

"We didn't have that mindset then, that they do now, that they go into a show like that to make a million dollars. It didn't occur to me.

"I saw it as an investment doing that show and in the long run, it worked out beautifully."

Feldon still makes appearances at pop culture conventions to meet Get Smart fans and she will head Down Under, for the first time, in November to meet Aussie devotees at Supanova shows in Adelaide and Brisbane.

Meeting fans is about as close as she gets to staying in touch with the agen samgong series having, regrettably, never kept a prop, script or even a photo from the set of Get Smart.

"I didn't save articles or anything because I don't save anything and I'm sorry now," Feldon said.

"It's so long ago that I don't remember a whole lot of it."

* Supanova:

Nov 21-22: Adelaide Showgrounds

Nov 27-29: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre