Napoleon Solo

Background

Solo is a charming, sophisticated, and efficient agent with a weakness for beautiful women, much like James Bond, but he is far less intense and brutal, possessing a relaxed, Cary Grant-like ease. He is Number One in Section Two at U.N.C.L.E. Though originally conceived as Canadian, he is consistently American on screen. While Solo was meant to be the series' main focus, the unexpected popularity of his Russian partner, Illya Kuryakin, led to McCallum becoming a co-star, with episodes typically giving both agents equal screen time.

Personality

Solo is urbane, self-assured, sociable, charming, and laid-back, contrasting with Kuryakin's reserved, intellectual, and intense nature. He dressed well, favoring expensive suits and ties; his hairstyle and clothing remained unchanged through the first three seasons, but in the fourth year Vaughn grew his hair longer and wore modish clothing like double-breasted suits to reflect evolving 1960s fashions. Solo served in the Korean War, is college-educated, and has a wide knowledge of English poetry, though he lacks broad scientific or technical knowledge.

He is skilled in martial arts and can fly planes and helicopters. Like Bond, he is a serial womanizer; the first season's press guide described his view of women with a paraphrase from Animal Farm: 'Solo believes that all women are created equal, only some are more equal than others.' He rarely treats women with anything other than respect and affection on screen, but is involved with countless women and sustains no long-term relationship across the four seasons.

One original suggestion for his background had him marrying young and losing his wife in a car accident after one year, though this is never mentioned in the series. The only ex-girlfriend given extended screen time is Clara in 'The Terbuf Affair', hinting at a broken heart. He has a long-standing on-off relationship with THRUSH femme fatale Angelique, and is familiar with other THRUSH female operatives as well as various U.N.C.L.E. female agents.

Afterlife

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ended in 1968 during its fourth season. Robert Vaughn later played Solo again in the 1983 TV movie Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair. The character remains popular in fan fiction. In the 1988 comic Shattered Visage, a sequel to The Prisoner, Solo and Kuryakin appear at a spy’s funeral with John Steed and Emma Peel.

Two bands share his name: the Danish SKA group Napoleon Solo and the Spanish indie-pop band Napoleon Solo. At the Drive-In included a song called "Napoleon Solo" on their album In/Casino/Out. On NCIS, David McCallum’s character Ducky owned a Corgi named Solo.

Film

In the 2015 feature film The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Henry Cavill portrays Napoleon Solo. This version is a former World War II soldier from an extremely wealthy family who remained in Europe after the war, becoming an unequalled art thief specializing in classical art and architecture. He was caught, prosecuted, and given a fifteen-year prison sentence, but was recruited by the CIA in exchange for his physical freedom before serving any time.

Did You Know?

• In the first season, Solo wore a badge with the Roman numeral II, but Robert Vaughn mistook it for an eleven and chose the wrong badge number for the second season.
• The first season's press guide described Solo's view of women using a paraphrase from George Orwell's Animal Farm: 'Solo believes that all women are created equal, only some are more equal than others.'
• One original suggestion for Solo's background had him marrying young and losing his wife in a car accident after only one year of marriage, though this was never mentioned in the series.
• In the episode 'The Giuoco Piano Affair', an enemy operative says of Solo: 'Your respect for what you think is right is your weakness.'
• David McCallum's character on NCIS, Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard, owned a Corgi dog named Solo as a reference to Napoleon Solo.