Napoleon Solo
Napoleon Solo is the number one of Section II of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.As the top enforcement agent of the multi-national organization, he combats various threats to world peace, including a mysterious criminal group known as Thrush.The character has no single creator. Norman Felton, a British-born, U.S.-based televisio... Show more »
Napoleon Solo is the number one of Section II of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.As the top enforcement agent of the multi-national organization, he combats various threats to world peace, including a mysterious criminal group known as Thrush.The character has no single creator. Norman Felton, a British-born, U.S.-based television producer, was interested in making an adventure series. He approached Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. The two had discussions over a few days in 1962 in New York, with Fleming contributing some ideas, including the character's name. Most of the heavy lifting was done by Sam Rolfe, who wrote the pilot script and devised the U.N.C.L.E. organization. The pilot only referred to the character as Solo, although actor Robert Vaughn referred to the character as Napoleon Solo in a brief, five-minute film for advertisers and network executives.Very little of Solo's background was presented during the 105 episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. or the eight feature films derived from the series. He once claimed to be from Kansas (The Four-Steps Affair, To Trap a Spy) but that is likely false given he was in the company of Thrush femme fatale Angela at the time. Program development notes say he was born in Canada, but this was never stated during the series.It is known he served with the U.S. during the Koren War under a Colonel Morgan, who he would again encounter in The Secret Sceptre Affair.He also was in a verious relationship with Clara Richards, who, years later and married summoned him for assistance during the events of The Terbuf Affair.Around the same time, early in his U.N.C.L.E. career, Solo encountered G. Emory Partridge, a criminal who had a plan to take over the rainforest of South America and who would later seek revenge on the U.N.C.L.E. operative (The Gazebo in the Maze Affair, The Yukon Affair).Solo is most often paired with Russian U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin. However, on occasion, he does work alone (The Iowa-Scuba Affair) or with other agents (The Man From Thrush Affair).Solo has a busy social life, with many girlfriends. He is not shown having a serious relationship, other than the reference to his past relationship with Clara, and that was mentioned only in the one episode.The agent is cool under pressure, often able to devise plans on the run. Solo often recruits (and sometimes in a manipulative way) innocents who because of a relationship or special talent can help U.N.C.L.E. achieve its aims. He recruits housewife Elaine May Donaldson (The Vulcan Affair/To Trap a Spy) because she was a college sweetheart of Thrush operative Andrew Vulcan.Solo is often glib but also possesses a moral core. In The Seven Wonders of the World Affair Part II, he strongly lectures a group that is preparing to unleash a will gas that will turn the Earth's populace into sheep. The group's aim is to end violence forever and was formed by former U.N.C.L.E. official Robert Kingsley. Solo, however, tells Kingsley in his new world there won't be any wonder and that is up to mankind to find its own way.That episode was the final of the show's 105 episodes. In a 1976 script for a proposed revival, Solo was still in his old post as number one of U.N.C.L.E.'s Section II. That story, The Malthusian Affair, never went before the cameras.In the early 1980s, in The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E., Solo is depicted as a businessman who had invested in computers who returns to the U.N.C.L.E. fold 15 years after exiting. At the end of that made-for-television movie, it is suggested he may be ready for a more permanent return.In 2015, a movie version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was released with actor Henry Cavill playing Solo. In the film, Solo is an agent for the CIA. In a trailer for the movie, Solo is referred to by KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) as the CIA's most effective operative. In a March 2015 feature story in ShortList.com, it's revealed that Solo was an art thief before joining the CIA. The movie is set in 1963 and U.N.C.L.E. has not been formed. In the series, U.N.C.L.E. was well established in The Vulcan Affair, the show's pilot episode. Show less «
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