Tears flow for Caped Crusader
BEFORE Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck donned Batman’s cape in a stream of Hollywood blockbusters, there was Adam West.
West’s deadpan portrayal of the comic hero in a campy 1960s TV series brought the Caped Crusader into the national consciousness with a “bang!”
West died on Friday night after “a short but brave battle with leukaemia,” his publicist, Molly Schoneveld, said at the weekend. He was 88.
“He was and always will be our hero,” West’s children said in a statement.
When West took on the tights, he stoked the stoicism for laughs: a superhero letting everyone know he was in on the joke.
“We were making overstated morality plays for children that adults could watch and enjoy,” West told the Los Angeles Times in a 2004 interview.
His Batman costars Burt Ward and Julie Newmar, who played Robin and Catwoman, respectively, voiced their sadness over his passing on social media.
In April 2012, West received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.