06-10-2017 , 10:17 PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_West William West Anderson[1] (September 19, 1928 – June 9, 2017), commonly known as Adam West, was an American actor whose career spanned seven decades. He is best known for portraying Batman in the 1960s ABC series Batman and its theatrical feature film.
His acting career began in films in 1959. He played opposite Chuck Connors in Geronimo (1962) and The Three Stooges in The Outlaws Is Coming (1965). He also appeared in the science-fiction film Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), opposite Paul Mantee, and did voice work on The Fairly OddParents, The Simpsons and Family Guy (playing fictional versions of himself in all three) and also Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders. Born William West Anderson
September 19, 1928
Walla Walla, Washington, U.S.
Died June 9, 2017 (aged 88)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death Leukemia
Alma mater Whitman College
Occupation Actor
Years active 1954–2017
Known for Batman, Mayor West, Catman
Television Batman, Family Guy, The Simpsons, The Fairly OddParents
Spouse(s)
Billie Lou Yeager (m. 1950; div. 1956)
Frisbie Dawson (m. 1957; div. 1962)
Marcelle Tagand Lear (m. 1970; d. 2017)
Children 6
Website adamwest.com Early life
West was born on September 19, 1928, in Walla Walla, Washington,[2] to Otto West Anderson (January 25, 1903 – October 9, 1984)[3][4] and Audrey V. Speer (1906–69).[5] He was of Swedish descent from his father, and English, with small amounts of Welsh, German, Irish, and remote Scottish from his mother.[6][7][8][9] His father was a farmer; his mother was an opera singer and concert pianist who was forced to abandon her own Hollywood dreams to care for her family.[10] Following her example, West stated to his father as a youth that he intended after school to go to Hollywood. He moved to Seattle when he was 15 with his mother following his parents' divorce.[11]
West attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years, and later enrolled in Lakeside School in Seattle. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in literature and a minor in psychology from Whitman College[12] in Walla Walla, where he was a member of the Gamma Zeta Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He also participated on the speech and debate team. Drafted into the United States Army, he served as an announcer on American Forces Network television. After his discharge, he worked as a milkman before moving to Hawaii to pursue television.[10]
Career
Early roles
While in Hawaii, West was picked for a role as the sidekick on a children's show called El Kini Popo Show, which featured a chimp. West later took over as star of the show.[citation needed] In 1959, West moved with his wife and two children to Hollywood,[10] where he took the stage name Adam West. In his autobiography Back to the Batcave, he explains he chose 'Adam' simply because he liked the way it looked and sounded with 'West', his middle name.
He appeared in the film The Young Philadelphians including Paul Newman, and guest-starred in a number of television Westerns. On three Warner Bros. Westerns aired on ABC, Sugarfoot, Colt .45, and Lawman, West played the role of Doc Holliday, the frontier dentist and gunfighter. He portrayed Wild Bill Hickok in the episode "Westbound Stage" of the 1960 NBC Western series Overland Trail, with William Bendix and Doug McClure.
He guest-starred on Edmond O'Brien's syndicated crime drama Johnny Midnight, and soon snagged a supporting role as police sergeant Steve Nelson in the crime drama, The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. He made a few guest appearances on Perry Mason in the early 1960s and appeared once on Walter Brennan's sitcom, The Real McCoys.
On January 10, 1961, West appeared as a young, ambitious deputy who foolishly confronts a gunfighter named Clay Jackson, portrayed by Jock Mahoney, in the episode "The Man from Kansas" of the NBC Western series Laramie.[citation needed]
West made two guest appearances on Perry Mason in 1961 and 1962. His first role was as small-town journalist Dan Southern in "The Case of the Barefaced Witness". His other role was as folk singer Pete Norland in "The Case of the Bogus Books".
West starred in an episode of the ABC Outer Limits series titled "The Invisible Enemy". He made a brief appearance in the film Soldier in the Rain starring Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen, and starred as Major Dan McCready, the ill-fated mission commander of 'Mars Gravity Probe 1' in the 1964 film Robinson Crusoe on Mars. In 1965, he was cast in the comedy Western The Outlaws Is Coming, the last feature film starring The Three Stooges. He played Christopher Rolf in the episode "Stopover", of ABC's The Rifleman, which aired on April 25, 1961.
West as Batman
Batman
Main articles: Batman (TV series) and Batman (1966 film)
Producer William Dozier cast West as Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, in the television series Batman, in part after seeing West perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé Quik commercial. He was in competition with Lyle Waggoner for the Batman role.[citation needed]
The popular campy show ran on ABC from 1966 to 1968; a feature-length film version directed by Leslie H. Martinson was released in 1966.[13]
In his Batman character, West appeared in a public service announcement where he encouraged schoolchildren to heed then-President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for them to buy U.S. Savings stamps, a children's version of U.S. Savings bonds, to support the Vietnam War.[14]
In 1970, West was offered the role of James Bond by Cubby Broccoli for the film Diamonds Are Forever. West did not accept, later stating in his autobiography that he believed the role should always be played by a British actor.[citation needed]
Post-Batman career
After his high-profile role, West, along with Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig (who played crime-fighting sidekicks Robin and Batgirl), was severely typecast. West's first post-Caped Crusader role was in the film The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969). His lead performance against type as cynical tough guy Johnny Cain did not erode his Batman image; the movie was a box office disappointment.
West in 1989 at the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards
For a time, West made a living doing personal appearances as Batman. In 1974, when Ward and Craig reprised their Batman roles for a TV public-service announcement about equal pay for women, West was absent. Instead, Dick Gautier filled in as Batman.[15] One of his more memorable Batman appearances after the series was when he made an appearance in the Memphis, Tennessee-based United States Wrestling Association to engage in a war of words with Jerry "The King" Lawler while wearing the cowl and a track suit, and even name-dropping Spider-Man, though he is a Marvel Comics hero.[16]
West subsequently appeared in the theatrical films The Marriage of a Young Stockbrocker (1971), The Curse of the Moon Child (1972), The Specialist (1975), Hooper (as himself; 1978), The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980) and One Dark Night (1983). West also appeared in such television films as The Eyes of Charles Sand (1972), Poor Devil (1973), Nevada Smith (1975), For the Love of It (1980) and I Take These Men (1983).
He did guest shots on the television series Maverick; Diagnosis: Murder; Love, American Style; Bonanza; The Big Valley; Night Gallery; Alias Smith and Jones; Mannix; Emergency!; Alice; Police Woman; Operation Petticoat; The American Girls; Vega$; Big Shamus Little Shamus; Laverne & Shirley; Bewitched; Fantasy Island; The Love Boat; Hart to Hart; Zorro; The King of Queens; and George Lopez. West was also in an episode of Bonanza that supposedly never aired until reruns were shown and he made several guest appearances as himself on Family Feud. In 1986, he starred in the comedy police series titled The Last Precinct.
Return to Batman
West often reprised his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, first in the short-lived animated series, The New Adventures of Batman, and in other shows such as The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour, Tarzan and the Super 7, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (succeeding Olan Soule in the role). In 1979, West once again donned the Batsuit for the live-action TV special Legends of the Superheroes. In 1985, DC Comics named West as one of the honorees in the company's 50th-anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great for his work on the Batman series.[17]
West was considered to play Thomas Wayne in Tim Burton's Batman. Originally, he wanted to play Batman.[18][19] West never appeared in any of the theatrically released Batman franchise motion pictures and, to date, neither has Burt Ward (Robin, from the TV series). West made an appearance in a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series on Fox, but not as Batman (as the role of Batman was already being played by Kevin Conroy). Instead, he portrayed Simon Trent, a washed-up actor who used to play a superhero in a TV series called The Gray Ghost and who now has difficulty finding work. The producers nearly considered scrapping that episode, as they figured it mirrored Adam West too much; however, West gladly accepted voicing such a character. West later had a recurring role as the voice of Mayor Grange in the WB animated series The Batman.
The actor vocally reprised his role as Batman for the computer-generated imagery animated short film Batman: New Times. He co-starred with Mark Hamill, who vocally portrayed The Joker and had originally played the role on Batman: The Animated Series. West also voiced Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne's father, in an episode of the cartoon series Batman: The Brave and the Bold. In the same series, he played Batman's prototype robot, named "Protobot".
1990s–2000s
West at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con
During the 1990s, West's status as a pop culture icon led to appearances as himself in the film Drop Dead Gorgeous and in several TV series, including NewsRadio, Murphy Brown, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, The Ben Stiller Show,[20] and The Drew Carey Show.[21] He notably appeared as "Dr. Wayne" in the 1990 Zorro episode "The Wizard", even being shown Zorro's "secret cave" headquarters. In 1991, he starred in the pilot episode of Lookwell, in which he portrayed a has-been TV action hero who falsely believes he can solve mysteries in real life. The pilot, written by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel in their pre-Late Night period, aired on NBC that summer, but was not picked up as a series.[22] It was later broadcast on the Trio channel, under the "Brilliant But Cancelled" block.[23] In 1994, West played a non-comedic role as the father of Peter Weller's character in the Michael Tolkin film, The New Age.
He played a washed-up superhero in the Goosebumps TV series episode "Attack of the Mutant". The boy hero is a comic book geek whose favorite superhero, Galloping Gazelle (West's character), is portrayed as fading and on the verge of retirement. Towards the end, the boy is shocked to learn that the Gazelle is real, though he (the boy) must save the day by himself.
In 1994, West, with Jeff Rovin, wrote his autobiography, Back to the Batcave published by Berkeley Books. He also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode titled "Batmantis", where he displayed his book. That episode was essentially a parody to his Batman TV series, where Zorak dressed himself as "Batmantis", a praying mantis version of Batman.
In 1996, Virgin Interactive released the gambling simulation game Golden Nugget on PlayStation. Adam West acted in the video cut scenes of the "Chaos Mystery" storyline subgame. In 2001, he played the super-villain Breathtaker on the short-lived TV series Black Scorpion.
In 2003, West and Burt Ward starred in the TV movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt, alongside Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, and Lee Meriwether. Jack Brewer portrayed West in flashbacks to the production of Batman. In 2005, West appeared in the CBS show The King of Queens. In the episode, Spence first asks Lou Ferrigno to go to a sci-fi convention, but when Spence meets West (playing himself), he leaves Ferrigno and asks West to come with him. He appears prominently in the 2006 video for California band STEFY's song "Chelsea" as "Judge Adam West", presiding over the courtroom scene.
In 2007, Adam West played an attorney for Benny on the show George Lopez, and starred as "The Boss" in the movie comedy Sexina: Popstar PI.[24] Following the release of a Batman game, a host of the show X-Play visited Adam West on the show. In 2009, West played himself in the episode "Apollo, Apollo" of 30 Rock.
2010s
West in 2014
In 2010, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.[25] West received the 2,468th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 5, 2012.[26] His star is located at 6764 Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Guinness Museum in Hollywood, California.
West has appeared in a number of videos for Funnyordie.com.[27]
He was interviewed in 2013 on the PBS series called Pioneers of Television in the season-three episode called "Superheroes". Also in 2013, he was the subject of the documentary Starring Adam West.[28]
West is among the interview subjects in Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, a three-hour documentary narrated by Liev Schreiber that premiered on PBS in October 2013.[29]
In October 2014, West was a guest star on the Huffpost Live show, talking about his Batman role and the upcoming release of all 120 episodes of his Batman series.[30]
In February 2016, West guest-starred as himself on the 200th episode of The Big Bang Theory.[31]
Voice-over work and advertising
Having a distinctive voice, West built a career doing voice-over work on a number of animated series (often as himself), including appearances on The Simpsons, Futurama, Rugrats, The Critic, Histeria!, Kim Possible, Johnny Bravo, and even in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series called "Beware the Gray Ghost", where he voiced the Gray Ghost.
He also appeared in many episodes of Nickelodeon's cartoon, The Fairly OddParents, as a cat-obsessed version of himself, who is famous for playing a superhero called Catman, and who actually believes he is Catman. His later appearance in The Fairly OddParents world was a parody of himself, hired to play the role of the Crimson Chin in the movie of the same name. Yet another appearance on the show had him as himself in a fairy-sponsored video about how to cope with losing one's fairy godparents. In later seasons, the role for this version of Adam West was recast to Jeff Bennett.
In 1997, West appeared in a national television advertising campaign for Ziebart.[32]
He has also done voice-over work for Futurama (Episode 10.9).
From 2000, West made regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, on which he played Mayor Adam West, the lunatic mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island. His role gave him a new wave of popularity since Batman,[33] and lead writer Seth MacFarlane claims to have gone out of his way to avoid typecasting West by deliberately not making any references to Batman.[34]
Some of his latest voice-over performances were playing the role of Uncle Art in the Disney Animation film Meet the Robinsons, and voicing the young Mermaid Man (along with Burt Ward, who voiced the young Barnacle Boy) in the cartoon show SpongeBob SquarePants, in the episode "Back to the Past" of 2010. The Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy characters are hybrid parodies of both Batman and Robin and Aquaman and Aqualad, respectively (both heroes have a TV show), and Mermaid Man's old age is a humorous reference to West's age.
West also played the voice of General Carrington in the video game XIII, and has voiced other video games such as Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Chicken Little: Ace in Action, Scooby Doo! Unmasked, and Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant. For the online game Champions Online, his voice is used in one of the website's videos.
In November 2014, West voiced himself, and the 1960s version of Batman, in the video game Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
West also did voice-over work for superhero-themed commercials for the investment firm LendingTree and TV commercials for Hebrew National hot dogs.
Personal life
West married Billie Lou Yeager in 1950, and they divorced in 1956. He married Nga Frisbie Dawson in 1957, and they divorced in 1962. Together, they had two children.[35]
West married Marcelle Tagand Lear in 1970. Together, they had four children.[35]
During the Batman TV series, West's relationship with co-star Burt Ward has been described as "problematic". He said "Burt fell victim to making up stories to sell books. But in a way it was flattering, because he made me sound like King Kong."[35] West said that he played Batman “for laughs, but in order to do [that], one had to never think it was funny. You just had to pull on that cowl and believe that no one would recognize you.”[36]
Death
On June 9, 2017, West died in Los Angeles after a battle with leukemia.[37] He was 88.[38]
Filmography
Film
1957: Voodoo Island
1958: Ghost of the China Sea
1959: The Young Philadelphians
1959: The FBI Story
1962: Geronimo
1963: Tammy and the Doctor
1964: Soldier in the Rain
1964: Robinson Crusoe on Mars
1965: The Outlaws Is Coming
1965: Mara of the Wilderness
1965: The Relentless Four
1966: Batman
1969: The Girl Who Knew Too Much
1971: The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
1972: Curse of the Moon Child
1974: Hell River
1975: The Specialist
1978: Hooper
1980: The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood
1983: One Dark Night
1984: Hell Riders
1985: Young Lady Chatterley II
1986: Zombie Nightmare
1988: Night of the Kickfighters
1988: Doin' Time on Planet Earth
1988: Yellow Pages
1989: Return Fire
1989: Mad About You
1990: Omega Cop
1991: Maxim Xul
1994: The Best Movie Ever Made
1994: The New Age
1994: Not This Part of the World
1995: Run for Cover
1995: Race For Your Life: An Interactive Movie
1995: The Clinic
1995: Ride for Your Life (short)
1996: The Size of Watermelons
1996: Joyride
1997: American Vampire
1997: Redux Riding Hood (short) (voice)
1999: Drop Dead Gorgeous
2001: Séance
2001: Nuclear Rescue 911
2002: From Heaven to Hell
2003: BAADASSSSS!
2004: Tales from Beyond
2004: Monster Island
2005: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (direct-to-DVD; voice)
2007: Blue Harvest (as Grand Moff Tarkin)
2005: Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (direct-to-DVD; voice)
2005: Buckaroo: The Movie
2005: Chicken Little (voice)
2005: Angels with Angles
2005: Batman: New Times (short) (voice)
2006: Sexina: Popstar P.I.
2007: Meet the Robinsons (voice)
2007: Ratko: The Dictator's Son
2009: Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion
2016: Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (direct-to-DVD; voice)
2017: Batman Vs. Two-Face (direct-to-DVD; voice)
Television
1958: 77 Sunset Strip (as Ernest Detterback in episode: "Two and Two Make Six")
1959: Lawman (as Doc Holliday)
1959: Sugarfoot (as Frederick Pulaski in episode: "The Mysterious Stranger")
1959: Maverick (2 episodes)
1959: Bourbon Street Beat (as a deputy in "The Black Magnolia")
1961: Bonanza (as a Frank in "The Bride" )
1961: Perry Mason ("The Case of the Barefaced Witness")
1961: Guestward, Ho! (as Larry Crawford in "Bill, the Fireman")
1961: The Rifleman
1961–62: The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor
1962: Perry Mason ("The Case of the Bogus Books")
1963: Gunsmoke ("Ash")
1963: Laramie
1964: Petticoat Junction (as Dr. Clayton Harris; two episodes)
1964: Bewitched (as Darrin's friend Kermit)
1966–68: Batman (title role)
1967: Batgirl (unaired pilot)
1968: Alexander the Great (unsold pilot)[citation needed]
1968: The Big Valley ("In Silent Battle"; season 4)
1969: How I Got You
1972: The Eyes of Charles Sand
1972: Mannix (as Jonathan Forsythe)
1972: Alias Smith and Jones (episode: "The Men That Corrupted Hadleyburg")
1973: Poor Devil
1974–75: Shazam! (voice)
1975: Nevada Smith
1976–85: Family Feud (himself; celebrity episodes)
1977: The New Adventures of Batman (voice)
1978–80: Tarzan and the Super 7 (voice)
1979: Legends of the Superheroes
1980: For the Love of It
1981: Warp Speed
1981: Time Warp
1982: Laverne & Shirley ("The Gymnast Show") (1 Episode)
1983: I Take These Men
1983: Ace Diamond Private Eye (unsold pilot)
1984–85: Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (voice)
1985–86: The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (voice)
1986: The Last Precinct (7 episodes)
1987: Murder, She Wrote (as Wade Talmadge in "Death Takes a Dive")
1990: Zorro (episode: "The Wizard")
1990: The Flash (as a hippy in "Child's Play") (credited as AWest)
1991: Lookwell (unsold pilot)
1992: 1775 (unsold pilot)
1992: Rugrats, as Captain Blasto (voice)
1992: Batman: The Animated Series (episode: "Beware the Gray Ghost")
1992: The Ben Stiller Show (guest star)
1992: The Simpsons (voice)
1994: Tales from the Crypt (episode: "As Ye Sow")
1993: Danger Theatre
1994: Space Ghost Coast to Coast (himself)
1994: The Critic (episode: "Eyes on the Prize")
1994: "Animaniacs" (as Spruce/The Caped Crusader in episode: "Cute First, Aquaintances, Here Comes Atilla, Boo Wonder")
1993–96: The Adventures of Pete & Pete (as Principal Schwinger)
1995: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (as Jerry Ritchen in "Whine, Whine, Whine")
1996: Goosebumps (as The Galloping Gazelle in "Attack of the Mutant")
1997: Johnny Bravo (voice; 3 episodes)
1997: The Wayans Bros. (himself)
1998–99: The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs (voice)
1998: Pacific Blue (as Macon Dean)
1998: Diagnosis: Murder (as "Bruce Blazer" in "Write, She Murdered")
1999: Histeria! (voice)
2001: Black Scorpion (as Breathtaker; 5 episodes)
2002: The Simpsons (voice)
2003–2008: The Fairly OddParents (as himself/Catman in 7 episodes)
2000–2017: Family Guy, as Mayor West
2001: The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (voices)
2003: Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt
2003: Kim Possible (episode: The Fearless Ferret; voice)
2004: Monster Island
1998–2001, 2005–06: Celebrity Deathmatch (himself)
2001: The Drew Carey Show
2004: Yes, Dear
2004–07: The Batman (as Mayor Grange)
2005: The Boondocks
2005: The King of Queens, himself
2007: George Lopez
2007: Blue Harvest, as Grand Moff Tarkin
2009: 30 Rock (himself)
2010: SpongeBob SquarePants (as young Mermaid Man in "Back to the Past")
2011: Funny or Die Presents (himself)
2010: Batman: The Brave and the Bold (as Thomas Wayne" in 2 episodes)
2011: The Super Hero Squad Show (as Nighthawk)
2011: Jake and the Never Land Pirates (as Wise Old Parrot)
2012: Betty White's Off Their Rockers (himself)
2013: Futurama (himself; voice)
2013: Starring Adam West (himself)
2015: Moonbeam City (as Razzle Novak)
2015: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero (as Captain Super Captain & Professor Evil Professor)
2015: Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie (as Sandy Blake)
2015: Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Magical Friendship (as '60s Batman)
2016: The Big Bang Theory (season 9, episode 17; as himself)
2017: Through the Keyhole (himself)
2017: Powerless (as narrator (voice only)) :( :( :(
His acting career began in films in 1959. He played opposite Chuck Connors in Geronimo (1962) and The Three Stooges in The Outlaws Is Coming (1965). He also appeared in the science-fiction film Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), opposite Paul Mantee, and did voice work on The Fairly OddParents, The Simpsons and Family Guy (playing fictional versions of himself in all three) and also Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders. Born William West Anderson
September 19, 1928
Walla Walla, Washington, U.S.
Died June 9, 2017 (aged 88)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death Leukemia
Alma mater Whitman College
Occupation Actor
Years active 1954–2017
Known for Batman, Mayor West, Catman
Television Batman, Family Guy, The Simpsons, The Fairly OddParents
Spouse(s)
Billie Lou Yeager (m. 1950; div. 1956)
Frisbie Dawson (m. 1957; div. 1962)
Marcelle Tagand Lear (m. 1970; d. 2017)
Children 6
Website adamwest.com Early life
West was born on September 19, 1928, in Walla Walla, Washington,[2] to Otto West Anderson (January 25, 1903 – October 9, 1984)[3][4] and Audrey V. Speer (1906–69).[5] He was of Swedish descent from his father, and English, with small amounts of Welsh, German, Irish, and remote Scottish from his mother.[6][7][8][9] His father was a farmer; his mother was an opera singer and concert pianist who was forced to abandon her own Hollywood dreams to care for her family.[10] Following her example, West stated to his father as a youth that he intended after school to go to Hollywood. He moved to Seattle when he was 15 with his mother following his parents' divorce.[11]
West attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years, and later enrolled in Lakeside School in Seattle. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in literature and a minor in psychology from Whitman College[12] in Walla Walla, where he was a member of the Gamma Zeta Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He also participated on the speech and debate team. Drafted into the United States Army, he served as an announcer on American Forces Network television. After his discharge, he worked as a milkman before moving to Hawaii to pursue television.[10]
Career
Early roles
While in Hawaii, West was picked for a role as the sidekick on a children's show called El Kini Popo Show, which featured a chimp. West later took over as star of the show.[citation needed] In 1959, West moved with his wife and two children to Hollywood,[10] where he took the stage name Adam West. In his autobiography Back to the Batcave, he explains he chose 'Adam' simply because he liked the way it looked and sounded with 'West', his middle name.
He appeared in the film The Young Philadelphians including Paul Newman, and guest-starred in a number of television Westerns. On three Warner Bros. Westerns aired on ABC, Sugarfoot, Colt .45, and Lawman, West played the role of Doc Holliday, the frontier dentist and gunfighter. He portrayed Wild Bill Hickok in the episode "Westbound Stage" of the 1960 NBC Western series Overland Trail, with William Bendix and Doug McClure.
He guest-starred on Edmond O'Brien's syndicated crime drama Johnny Midnight, and soon snagged a supporting role as police sergeant Steve Nelson in the crime drama, The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. He made a few guest appearances on Perry Mason in the early 1960s and appeared once on Walter Brennan's sitcom, The Real McCoys.
On January 10, 1961, West appeared as a young, ambitious deputy who foolishly confronts a gunfighter named Clay Jackson, portrayed by Jock Mahoney, in the episode "The Man from Kansas" of the NBC Western series Laramie.[citation needed]
West made two guest appearances on Perry Mason in 1961 and 1962. His first role was as small-town journalist Dan Southern in "The Case of the Barefaced Witness". His other role was as folk singer Pete Norland in "The Case of the Bogus Books".
West starred in an episode of the ABC Outer Limits series titled "The Invisible Enemy". He made a brief appearance in the film Soldier in the Rain starring Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen, and starred as Major Dan McCready, the ill-fated mission commander of 'Mars Gravity Probe 1' in the 1964 film Robinson Crusoe on Mars. In 1965, he was cast in the comedy Western The Outlaws Is Coming, the last feature film starring The Three Stooges. He played Christopher Rolf in the episode "Stopover", of ABC's The Rifleman, which aired on April 25, 1961.
West as Batman
Batman
Main articles: Batman (TV series) and Batman (1966 film)
Producer William Dozier cast West as Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, in the television series Batman, in part after seeing West perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé Quik commercial. He was in competition with Lyle Waggoner for the Batman role.[citation needed]
The popular campy show ran on ABC from 1966 to 1968; a feature-length film version directed by Leslie H. Martinson was released in 1966.[13]
In his Batman character, West appeared in a public service announcement where he encouraged schoolchildren to heed then-President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for them to buy U.S. Savings stamps, a children's version of U.S. Savings bonds, to support the Vietnam War.[14]
In 1970, West was offered the role of James Bond by Cubby Broccoli for the film Diamonds Are Forever. West did not accept, later stating in his autobiography that he believed the role should always be played by a British actor.[citation needed]
Post-Batman career
After his high-profile role, West, along with Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig (who played crime-fighting sidekicks Robin and Batgirl), was severely typecast. West's first post-Caped Crusader role was in the film The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969). His lead performance against type as cynical tough guy Johnny Cain did not erode his Batman image; the movie was a box office disappointment.
West in 1989 at the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards
For a time, West made a living doing personal appearances as Batman. In 1974, when Ward and Craig reprised their Batman roles for a TV public-service announcement about equal pay for women, West was absent. Instead, Dick Gautier filled in as Batman.[15] One of his more memorable Batman appearances after the series was when he made an appearance in the Memphis, Tennessee-based United States Wrestling Association to engage in a war of words with Jerry "The King" Lawler while wearing the cowl and a track suit, and even name-dropping Spider-Man, though he is a Marvel Comics hero.[16]
West subsequently appeared in the theatrical films The Marriage of a Young Stockbrocker (1971), The Curse of the Moon Child (1972), The Specialist (1975), Hooper (as himself; 1978), The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980) and One Dark Night (1983). West also appeared in such television films as The Eyes of Charles Sand (1972), Poor Devil (1973), Nevada Smith (1975), For the Love of It (1980) and I Take These Men (1983).
He did guest shots on the television series Maverick; Diagnosis: Murder; Love, American Style; Bonanza; The Big Valley; Night Gallery; Alias Smith and Jones; Mannix; Emergency!; Alice; Police Woman; Operation Petticoat; The American Girls; Vega$; Big Shamus Little Shamus; Laverne & Shirley; Bewitched; Fantasy Island; The Love Boat; Hart to Hart; Zorro; The King of Queens; and George Lopez. West was also in an episode of Bonanza that supposedly never aired until reruns were shown and he made several guest appearances as himself on Family Feud. In 1986, he starred in the comedy police series titled The Last Precinct.
Return to Batman
West often reprised his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, first in the short-lived animated series, The New Adventures of Batman, and in other shows such as The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour, Tarzan and the Super 7, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (succeeding Olan Soule in the role). In 1979, West once again donned the Batsuit for the live-action TV special Legends of the Superheroes. In 1985, DC Comics named West as one of the honorees in the company's 50th-anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great for his work on the Batman series.[17]
West was considered to play Thomas Wayne in Tim Burton's Batman. Originally, he wanted to play Batman.[18][19] West never appeared in any of the theatrically released Batman franchise motion pictures and, to date, neither has Burt Ward (Robin, from the TV series). West made an appearance in a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series on Fox, but not as Batman (as the role of Batman was already being played by Kevin Conroy). Instead, he portrayed Simon Trent, a washed-up actor who used to play a superhero in a TV series called The Gray Ghost and who now has difficulty finding work. The producers nearly considered scrapping that episode, as they figured it mirrored Adam West too much; however, West gladly accepted voicing such a character. West later had a recurring role as the voice of Mayor Grange in the WB animated series The Batman.
The actor vocally reprised his role as Batman for the computer-generated imagery animated short film Batman: New Times. He co-starred with Mark Hamill, who vocally portrayed The Joker and had originally played the role on Batman: The Animated Series. West also voiced Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne's father, in an episode of the cartoon series Batman: The Brave and the Bold. In the same series, he played Batman's prototype robot, named "Protobot".
1990s–2000s
West at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con
During the 1990s, West's status as a pop culture icon led to appearances as himself in the film Drop Dead Gorgeous and in several TV series, including NewsRadio, Murphy Brown, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, The Ben Stiller Show,[20] and The Drew Carey Show.[21] He notably appeared as "Dr. Wayne" in the 1990 Zorro episode "The Wizard", even being shown Zorro's "secret cave" headquarters. In 1991, he starred in the pilot episode of Lookwell, in which he portrayed a has-been TV action hero who falsely believes he can solve mysteries in real life. The pilot, written by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel in their pre-Late Night period, aired on NBC that summer, but was not picked up as a series.[22] It was later broadcast on the Trio channel, under the "Brilliant But Cancelled" block.[23] In 1994, West played a non-comedic role as the father of Peter Weller's character in the Michael Tolkin film, The New Age.
He played a washed-up superhero in the Goosebumps TV series episode "Attack of the Mutant". The boy hero is a comic book geek whose favorite superhero, Galloping Gazelle (West's character), is portrayed as fading and on the verge of retirement. Towards the end, the boy is shocked to learn that the Gazelle is real, though he (the boy) must save the day by himself.
In 1994, West, with Jeff Rovin, wrote his autobiography, Back to the Batcave published by Berkeley Books. He also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode titled "Batmantis", where he displayed his book. That episode was essentially a parody to his Batman TV series, where Zorak dressed himself as "Batmantis", a praying mantis version of Batman.
In 1996, Virgin Interactive released the gambling simulation game Golden Nugget on PlayStation. Adam West acted in the video cut scenes of the "Chaos Mystery" storyline subgame. In 2001, he played the super-villain Breathtaker on the short-lived TV series Black Scorpion.
In 2003, West and Burt Ward starred in the TV movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt, alongside Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, and Lee Meriwether. Jack Brewer portrayed West in flashbacks to the production of Batman. In 2005, West appeared in the CBS show The King of Queens. In the episode, Spence first asks Lou Ferrigno to go to a sci-fi convention, but when Spence meets West (playing himself), he leaves Ferrigno and asks West to come with him. He appears prominently in the 2006 video for California band STEFY's song "Chelsea" as "Judge Adam West", presiding over the courtroom scene.
In 2007, Adam West played an attorney for Benny on the show George Lopez, and starred as "The Boss" in the movie comedy Sexina: Popstar PI.[24] Following the release of a Batman game, a host of the show X-Play visited Adam West on the show. In 2009, West played himself in the episode "Apollo, Apollo" of 30 Rock.
2010s
West in 2014
In 2010, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.[25] West received the 2,468th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 5, 2012.[26] His star is located at 6764 Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Guinness Museum in Hollywood, California.
West has appeared in a number of videos for Funnyordie.com.[27]
He was interviewed in 2013 on the PBS series called Pioneers of Television in the season-three episode called "Superheroes". Also in 2013, he was the subject of the documentary Starring Adam West.[28]
West is among the interview subjects in Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, a three-hour documentary narrated by Liev Schreiber that premiered on PBS in October 2013.[29]
In October 2014, West was a guest star on the Huffpost Live show, talking about his Batman role and the upcoming release of all 120 episodes of his Batman series.[30]
In February 2016, West guest-starred as himself on the 200th episode of The Big Bang Theory.[31]
Voice-over work and advertising
Having a distinctive voice, West built a career doing voice-over work on a number of animated series (often as himself), including appearances on The Simpsons, Futurama, Rugrats, The Critic, Histeria!, Kim Possible, Johnny Bravo, and even in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series called "Beware the Gray Ghost", where he voiced the Gray Ghost.
He also appeared in many episodes of Nickelodeon's cartoon, The Fairly OddParents, as a cat-obsessed version of himself, who is famous for playing a superhero called Catman, and who actually believes he is Catman. His later appearance in The Fairly OddParents world was a parody of himself, hired to play the role of the Crimson Chin in the movie of the same name. Yet another appearance on the show had him as himself in a fairy-sponsored video about how to cope with losing one's fairy godparents. In later seasons, the role for this version of Adam West was recast to Jeff Bennett.
In 1997, West appeared in a national television advertising campaign for Ziebart.[32]
He has also done voice-over work for Futurama (Episode 10.9).
From 2000, West made regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, on which he played Mayor Adam West, the lunatic mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island. His role gave him a new wave of popularity since Batman,[33] and lead writer Seth MacFarlane claims to have gone out of his way to avoid typecasting West by deliberately not making any references to Batman.[34]
Some of his latest voice-over performances were playing the role of Uncle Art in the Disney Animation film Meet the Robinsons, and voicing the young Mermaid Man (along with Burt Ward, who voiced the young Barnacle Boy) in the cartoon show SpongeBob SquarePants, in the episode "Back to the Past" of 2010. The Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy characters are hybrid parodies of both Batman and Robin and Aquaman and Aqualad, respectively (both heroes have a TV show), and Mermaid Man's old age is a humorous reference to West's age.
West also played the voice of General Carrington in the video game XIII, and has voiced other video games such as Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Chicken Little: Ace in Action, Scooby Doo! Unmasked, and Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant. For the online game Champions Online, his voice is used in one of the website's videos.
In November 2014, West voiced himself, and the 1960s version of Batman, in the video game Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
West also did voice-over work for superhero-themed commercials for the investment firm LendingTree and TV commercials for Hebrew National hot dogs.
Personal life
West married Billie Lou Yeager in 1950, and they divorced in 1956. He married Nga Frisbie Dawson in 1957, and they divorced in 1962. Together, they had two children.[35]
West married Marcelle Tagand Lear in 1970. Together, they had four children.[35]
During the Batman TV series, West's relationship with co-star Burt Ward has been described as "problematic". He said "Burt fell victim to making up stories to sell books. But in a way it was flattering, because he made me sound like King Kong."[35] West said that he played Batman “for laughs, but in order to do [that], one had to never think it was funny. You just had to pull on that cowl and believe that no one would recognize you.”[36]
Death
On June 9, 2017, West died in Los Angeles after a battle with leukemia.[37] He was 88.[38]
Filmography
Film
1957: Voodoo Island
1958: Ghost of the China Sea
1959: The Young Philadelphians
1959: The FBI Story
1962: Geronimo
1963: Tammy and the Doctor
1964: Soldier in the Rain
1964: Robinson Crusoe on Mars
1965: The Outlaws Is Coming
1965: Mara of the Wilderness
1965: The Relentless Four
1966: Batman
1969: The Girl Who Knew Too Much
1971: The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
1972: Curse of the Moon Child
1974: Hell River
1975: The Specialist
1978: Hooper
1980: The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood
1983: One Dark Night
1984: Hell Riders
1985: Young Lady Chatterley II
1986: Zombie Nightmare
1988: Night of the Kickfighters
1988: Doin' Time on Planet Earth
1988: Yellow Pages
1989: Return Fire
1989: Mad About You
1990: Omega Cop
1991: Maxim Xul
1994: The Best Movie Ever Made
1994: The New Age
1994: Not This Part of the World
1995: Run for Cover
1995: Race For Your Life: An Interactive Movie
1995: The Clinic
1995: Ride for Your Life (short)
1996: The Size of Watermelons
1996: Joyride
1997: American Vampire
1997: Redux Riding Hood (short) (voice)
1999: Drop Dead Gorgeous
2001: Séance
2001: Nuclear Rescue 911
2002: From Heaven to Hell
2003: BAADASSSSS!
2004: Tales from Beyond
2004: Monster Island
2005: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (direct-to-DVD; voice)
2007: Blue Harvest (as Grand Moff Tarkin)
2005: Aloha, Scooby-Doo! (direct-to-DVD; voice)
2005: Buckaroo: The Movie
2005: Chicken Little (voice)
2005: Angels with Angles
2005: Batman: New Times (short) (voice)
2006: Sexina: Popstar P.I.
2007: Meet the Robinsons (voice)
2007: Ratko: The Dictator's Son
2009: Super Capers: The Origins of Ed and the Missing Bullion
2016: Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (direct-to-DVD; voice)
2017: Batman Vs. Two-Face (direct-to-DVD; voice)
Television
1958: 77 Sunset Strip (as Ernest Detterback in episode: "Two and Two Make Six")
1959: Lawman (as Doc Holliday)
1959: Sugarfoot (as Frederick Pulaski in episode: "The Mysterious Stranger")
1959: Maverick (2 episodes)
1959: Bourbon Street Beat (as a deputy in "The Black Magnolia")
1961: Bonanza (as a Frank in "The Bride" )
1961: Perry Mason ("The Case of the Barefaced Witness")
1961: Guestward, Ho! (as Larry Crawford in "Bill, the Fireman")
1961: The Rifleman
1961–62: The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor
1962: Perry Mason ("The Case of the Bogus Books")
1963: Gunsmoke ("Ash")
1963: Laramie
1964: Petticoat Junction (as Dr. Clayton Harris; two episodes)
1964: Bewitched (as Darrin's friend Kermit)
1966–68: Batman (title role)
1967: Batgirl (unaired pilot)
1968: Alexander the Great (unsold pilot)[citation needed]
1968: The Big Valley ("In Silent Battle"; season 4)
1969: How I Got You
1972: The Eyes of Charles Sand
1972: Mannix (as Jonathan Forsythe)
1972: Alias Smith and Jones (episode: "The Men That Corrupted Hadleyburg")
1973: Poor Devil
1974–75: Shazam! (voice)
1975: Nevada Smith
1976–85: Family Feud (himself; celebrity episodes)
1977: The New Adventures of Batman (voice)
1978–80: Tarzan and the Super 7 (voice)
1979: Legends of the Superheroes
1980: For the Love of It
1981: Warp Speed
1981: Time Warp
1982: Laverne & Shirley ("The Gymnast Show") (1 Episode)
1983: I Take These Men
1983: Ace Diamond Private Eye (unsold pilot)
1984–85: Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (voice)
1985–86: The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (voice)
1986: The Last Precinct (7 episodes)
1987: Murder, She Wrote (as Wade Talmadge in "Death Takes a Dive")
1990: Zorro (episode: "The Wizard")
1990: The Flash (as a hippy in "Child's Play") (credited as AWest)
1991: Lookwell (unsold pilot)
1992: 1775 (unsold pilot)
1992: Rugrats, as Captain Blasto (voice)
1992: Batman: The Animated Series (episode: "Beware the Gray Ghost")
1992: The Ben Stiller Show (guest star)
1992: The Simpsons (voice)
1994: Tales from the Crypt (episode: "As Ye Sow")
1993: Danger Theatre
1994: Space Ghost Coast to Coast (himself)
1994: The Critic (episode: "Eyes on the Prize")
1994: "Animaniacs" (as Spruce/The Caped Crusader in episode: "Cute First, Aquaintances, Here Comes Atilla, Boo Wonder")
1993–96: The Adventures of Pete & Pete (as Principal Schwinger)
1995: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (as Jerry Ritchen in "Whine, Whine, Whine")
1996: Goosebumps (as The Galloping Gazelle in "Attack of the Mutant")
1997: Johnny Bravo (voice; 3 episodes)
1997: The Wayans Bros. (himself)
1998–99: The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs (voice)
1998: Pacific Blue (as Macon Dean)
1998: Diagnosis: Murder (as "Bruce Blazer" in "Write, She Murdered")
1999: Histeria! (voice)
2001: Black Scorpion (as Breathtaker; 5 episodes)
2002: The Simpsons (voice)
2003–2008: The Fairly OddParents (as himself/Catman in 7 episodes)
2000–2017: Family Guy, as Mayor West
2001: The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (voices)
2003: Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt
2003: Kim Possible (episode: The Fearless Ferret; voice)
2004: Monster Island
1998–2001, 2005–06: Celebrity Deathmatch (himself)
2001: The Drew Carey Show
2004: Yes, Dear
2004–07: The Batman (as Mayor Grange)
2005: The Boondocks
2005: The King of Queens, himself
2007: George Lopez
2007: Blue Harvest, as Grand Moff Tarkin
2009: 30 Rock (himself)
2010: SpongeBob SquarePants (as young Mermaid Man in "Back to the Past")
2011: Funny or Die Presents (himself)
2010: Batman: The Brave and the Bold (as Thomas Wayne" in 2 episodes)
2011: The Super Hero Squad Show (as Nighthawk)
2011: Jake and the Never Land Pirates (as Wise Old Parrot)
2012: Betty White's Off Their Rockers (himself)
2013: Futurama (himself; voice)
2013: Starring Adam West (himself)
2015: Moonbeam City (as Razzle Novak)
2015: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero (as Captain Super Captain & Professor Evil Professor)
2015: Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie (as Sandy Blake)
2015: Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Magical Friendship (as '60s Batman)
2016: The Big Bang Theory (season 9, episode 17; as himself)
2017: Through the Keyhole (himself)
2017: Powerless (as narrator (voice only)) :( :( :(