I’m happy to add my vote for Russ Conway as the Best of the Good. I don’t know who was responsible for casting Ken Tobey in this part, but it’s yet another of those instances of serendipity in which
I Spy abounds.
Russ is so much a part of the
I Spy landscape that I was surprised to learn his first appearance comes near the end of the second season, in Magic Mirror.
The ease of his exchanges with Kelly and Scotty makes it seem like he’s been there all along.
It’s evident he likes these two agents—I particularly enjoy the recurrent suitcase-packing gag—
but he never lets them forget who’s in charge, from his crisp way of saying “Gentlemen” to the snarly dressing-down he gives Kelly in the opening scene of Magic Mirror.
As an aside, one of the many things I appreciate about Culp’s writing is that he never hesitates to put great lines in the mouths of other actors. A smaller-minded writer/actor would want to keep the best speeches for himself, but that’s not how our Mr. Culp operates.
Like many series regulars, Tobey sometimes shows up in surprising places. Here he is getting tough with a cross-dressed Cary Grant in
I Was a Male War Bride—decades before “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was ever heard of. In fact, this may be where he perfected his finger-pointing technique.
So it looks like we’re largely in agreement about who the Good Guys are.
Regards—
