The Double Life of Henry Phyfe


The Double Life of Henry Phyfe is a 17-episode American sitcom broadcast on ABC from January 13 to September 1, 1966, and starring Red Buttons.

Plot

Henry Phyfe was a mild-mannered accountant, until circumstances forced the American Counter Intelligence Service to recruit him to impersonate a foreign agent named U-31, who had been killed in an automobile accident. The agent looked just like Phyfe, but the two men's personalities were drastically different. That severe contrast laid the groundwork for many of the episodes.
Also seen regularly were Phyfe's girlfriend, Judy Kimball; Judy's mother Florence; Mr. Hamble, Henry's boss at the accounting firm; and Gerald Hannahan, the regional director of CIS and Henry's agency boss. Hannahan was the lone series regular to know Henry's secret.
Judy, Florence and Mr. Hamble were all dropped from the show after the ninth episode in production order. However, as the episodes were aired out of sequence, these three characters are seen through episode 8 as aired, then disappear for a while. All three return in episode 14 for one final appearance.
A recurring plot line is that Hannahan has to persuade Phyfe -- usually through trickery -- to undertake each mission, as Phyfe adamantly wants nothing to do with the agency, or with Hannahan, or with being a spy. As well, U-31 had a wide range of specialized skills which Phyfe often attempts to learn just before each mission.

Cast

Overview

Actor Peter Bonerz had auditioned for the role of Henry Phyfe before Red Buttons was selected.
Buttons noted that, unlike Agent Maxwell Smart in NBC's new hit Get Smart, his character was shy, used no gadgets in his work, and was an impostor, not an actual agent. Phyfe's CIS boss was played by veteran character actor Fred Clark, who bore a superficial physical resemblance to Smart's "Chief" played by Edward Platt.
The show marked Buttons' return to weekly television after his variety show had ended a three-year run in 1955. During the interim, Buttons found roles in 15 different motion pictures, including an Academy Award-winning performance in the 1957 Marlon Brando film, Sayonara.
The concept of an "every man" recruited to impersonate someone of importance has been used for many years in literature. A few months after the series' cancellation, the animated film, The Man Called Flintstone, featured the same premise as Henry Phyfe, while another TV series, The Man Who Never Was, debuted in the fall of 1966 with the premise reversed as a spy found himself impersonating a businessman who had been killed.