Barbara Feldon turned 90 in March 2023. In the Forbes profile that framed her at that age, “getting smarter” did not mean a new chapter devoted to Get Smart: Feldon said her memoir’s central story was her life with her former husband, Lucien, and what she learned from that experience. The age reference is historical, not a statement of her age today.
What Barbara Feldon meant by “getting smarter”
Feldon explained the title of Getting Smarter: A Memoir in a 2023 interview with Jim Clash for Forbes. The memoir looks back on her relationship with her former husband, Lucien, and the lessons she drew from that life together. Get Smart is part of the story, but Feldon did not describe it as the book’s main subject.
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Her official website presents the memoir as spanning her early life, career, marriage and years on Get Smart. It lists paperback and hardcover editions, with 240 pages and more than 60 photographs. The site describes the paperback photographs as black and white and the hardcover photographs as color; those descriptions do not confirm that either edition is currently in stock.
Why Agent 99 remains central to her story
Feldon is best known for playing Agent 99 on Get Smart, the comedy that made her a familiar face and shaped how audiences saw her. In a Television Academy Foundation oral history recorded October 22, 2007, she discussed the character, the show’s satire of political espionage, its production and collaborators, and the way the role affected her public identity. The interview also addresses the challenge of being associated so strongly with one part.
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That history gives the memoir’s broader focus useful context: Feldon’s life cannot be reduced to the role, even though Agent 99 is its most visible career landmark. Her Academy oral history traces her interests in acting and ballet, her education at Carnegie Tech Drama School (now Carnegie Mellon), and her later interest in writing. A second archived interview, recorded October 18, 2005, discusses her route through dance, music and modeling to acting, as well as her experience on Get Smart (American Comedy Archives at Emerson College).
How Feldon wanted to be remembered
In the Television Academy archive, Feldon described the legacy she hoped to leave: “I’d like to be remembered as someone who led their life fully. Not just in one area, but someone who lived their days with enthusiasm and curiosity.” It is a statement from an archived interview, not a new comment from 2026, but it echoes the memoir’s emphasis on learning through a life lived across relationships, work and changing interests.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What was Barbara Feldon doing at 90?
The age framing comes from the September 2023 Forbes profile, published after Feldon turned 90 that March. That article discusses her memoir and her reflections on her life; it does not establish her present status or activities in October 2026. The most grounded answer is therefore about what she was sharing at the time: a book that looks beyond the fame of Agent 99 to the personal experiences she said made her wiser.
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