All over for star who gave Batman punch
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 global consciousness with a “bang!”. The Dark Knight had been a brooding presence on the pages of comic books since 1939 and on the big screen in 1940s- era movie serials.
West died on Friday after “a short but brave battle with leukemia,” his publicist, Molly Schoneveld, said on Saturday in a statement. He was 88.
“Our dad always saw himself as The Bright Knight, and aspired to make a positive impact on his fans’ lives,” West’s children said in a statement. “He was and always will be our hero.”
When West took on the tights, he stoked the stoicism for laughs: a superhero letting all 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. “We played it terribly serious, and that’s half the fun of it.”
West’s Batman, which he called his “Bright Knight,” protected Gotham City from Technicolor criminals such as the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman. Viewers came to expect fight scenes where Batman and his trusted sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder, played by Burt Ward, would battle an array of anonymous henchmen, dispatching them with comedic blows obscured by graphics that filled the screen and hid the violence: Bam! Whap! Pow!
Batman was among the most popular TV shows in 1966, the year of its debut.
Burgess Meredith squawked as the Penguin. Eartha Kitt purred as Catwoman. And Cesar Romero cackled as the Joker.
It was the start of a tradition that would continue when the characters reemerged as Hollywood mainstays in 1989. The show lasted just three seasons but has endured in reruns and video sales. After Batman went off the air in 1968, West continued to work in TV, appearing in Laverne & Shirley and Fantasy Island.
But he said he had been turned down for some roles because of his time portraying millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his spandex- wearing alter ego, Batman.
“It is kind of a doubleedged sword, but I made up my mind a long time ago to enjoy it,” West told The Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs, California, in a June 2006 interview. “Not many actors get the chance to create a signature character.”
He returned to the role in an episode of The Simpsons and in 2003’ s Return to the Batcave, in which he reminisced with Ward.
More recently, he did the voice of nutty Mayor Adam West on the long- running Family Guy series.
In April 2012, West received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Born William West Anderson in Walla Walla, Washington, he moved to Seattle at age 15 with his mother after his parents divorced. He graduated from Whitman College, a liberal arts school, in Walla Walla.
After serving in the Army, he went to Hollywood, and began appearing on shows including Bonanza, Perry Mason and Bewitched.
He was married three times and had six children. West is survived by wife Marcelle, six children, five grandchildren and two great- grandchildren.