MGM producer and `Get Smart` creator Daniel Melnick dies

Daniel Melnick, a producer and former head of production at MGM and Columbia studios who was known for making literate and carefully crafted films that included "Network," "All That Jazz" and "Roxanne," has died. He was 77 - reports the Charlotte Observer.

Melnick, who recently had undergone surgery for lung cancer, died Tuesday of multiple ailments at his home in Los Angeles, said his son, Peter.

Inspired by the success of James Bond movies, Melnick made his mark on popular culture with the 1960s spy-spoof television series "Get Smart" that starred Don Adams as bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart.

"James Bond and Inspector Clouseau - those are the two biggest hits out there. Take a hint," Melnick told his writers, Buck Henry and Mel Brooks, according to a 2008 article in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

"Get Smart" won several Emmy Awards, but Melnick received his in 1966 for producing "Ages of Man," which featured John Gielgud in a Shakespearean turn, and 1967 for a presentation of "Death of a Salesman."

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