Napoleon Solo

Napoleon Solo
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. character
Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo with a guest star, a young Kurt Russell
Portrayed by	Robert Vaughn (television) Henry Cavill (film)
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Secret Agent
Nationality	American

Napoleon Solo is a fictional character from the 1960s TV spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The series was remarkable for pairing the American Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, and the Russian Illya Kuryakin as two spies who work together for an international espionage organisation at the height of the Cold War.

Solo possesses a charm, sophistication, efficiency, and weakness for beautiful women comparable to Bond's. But Solo is considerably less intense and also less brutal than the British Secret Service agent, and he possesses a laid-back ease that recalls the young Cary Grant. The show's original concept had Solo as a Canadian; but he is consistently American in the show.

Solo is Number One in Section Two (Operations and Enforcement) at U.N.C.L.E. (In the first season he wore a badge with the Roman numeral II designating him as head of Section Two. During the switch to color in the second season, new badges were created and Robert Vaughn, mistaking the earlier II for an eleven, chose the wrong badge number for Solo.) It was originally intended that Solo would be the primary focus of the series, however the unexpected popularity of the Russian agent, Illya Kuryakin, played by David McCallum, saw McCallum elevated to co-star status. Most of the episodes devote equal screen time to Kuryakin and Solo, and much of the success of the program was based on the chemistry between McCallum and Vaughn.

The two characters are, in many ways, polar opposites. Solo is urbane, self-assured, sociable, charming, and laid-back. Kuryakin, on the other hand, is reserved, intellectual, and intense. Although little was revealed about his background or his partner's, Solo comes across as the more accessible and straightforward of the two men.

He dressed well and had a taste for expensive suits and ties. His hairstyle and his clothing did not change in the first three seasons but in the fourth and final year, Vaughn (like McCallum) grew his hair much longer and wore modish clothing, such as double-breasted suits, in order to reflect evolving 1960s fashions that the show itself had influenced.

In "The Secret Sceptre Affair", it is stated that Solo served in the Korean War. Nothing much is known about his immediate family, although it appears one of his grandfathers was an admiral, the other was an ambassador ("The Green Opal Affair"). He is college-educated. Like his partner Kuryakin, he has a wide knowledge of English poetry. Unlike his partner, he lacks a broad knowledge of science and technology. He is skilled in martial arts; he can fly a plane and a helicopter.