To co-star, West was cat’s meow
As the Catwoman, she was Batman’s sexiest big-screen nemesis. As socialite Lisa Carson, she was Bruce Wayne’s first televised kiss. And as Lee Meriwether, she was Adam West’s longtime friend.
On the first weekend of June, Meriwether attended a comic convention with West near Niagara Falls. Days later, on June 9, West died at age 88.
“It was such a shock, hearing he had passed away, especially after just seeing him at Niagara Falls,” Meriwether said by phone from Los Angeles. “We were signing autographs right next to each other. He was such a lovely man. It’s just not right.”
In tribute to West, the Alamo Drafthouse’s New Mission Theater is screening “Batman: The Movie” through Thursday, June 22 (see the accompanying box for Bat Times). The 1966 big-screen version of the ABC TV series was a box office hit for 20th Century Fox.
Meriwether, 82, grew up in San Francisco, where she was classmates with Johnny Mathis at Washington High School and Bill Bixby at City College of San Francisco. She later became Miss San Francisco, Miss California, then Miss America 1955, which opened the door to an acting career.
A decade later, Meriwether was cast as the Catwoman after TV’s first Catwoman, Julie Newmar, was locked into another acting commitment. Meriwether instantly felt a kinship with West — both were among the many actors with star potential who toiled away in the late 1950s and early ’60s making guest appearances in classic TV shows such as “Perry Mason” and “77 Sunset Strip.”
Meriwether’s breaks would come after “Batman: The Movie” — she became a regular on “Time Tunnel” in the late 1960s and was nominated for an Emmy for her role in “Barnaby Jones” in the 1970s. West’s big break came, of course, when he was cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne. The series ran only 2½ seasons (120 episodes), but dominated his life thereafter — which he came to relish.
Many believe “Batman” to be the first series to consciously embrace camp, and Meriwether’s first day on the set — shooting scenes in the interior of the Penguin’s submarine — blew her mind. Her first scenes were with Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, Cesar Romero as the Joker and Frank Gorshin as the Riddler.
“Everything goes ‘Pow!’ ‘Pow!’ all over the place because Batman and Robin are in the Bat Boat dropping depth charges,” Meriwether recalled. “The set was on a rocker, and the set moves and it was really wild. That’s when I got to know Cesar Romero very well. He guarded me, he knew where all the sparks were going to fly.”
She finally met West on her third day of shooting and marveled at how effortlessly he played camp, with just the right balance of seriousness and humor. It’s harder than it looks, she said.
“He was always funny, witty, and I just appreciated his talent,” Meriwether said. “If he had been one step off the tightrope he was walking, it would have gone wrong. He did it with such determination and believability that I was awed by it. He was so good.”
The secret to playing camp: “You just have to be believable in whatever you’ve been given. It’s a fine line. He was earnest, he was honest, he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. I was slinky and catlike as much as I could be … and as alluring as I could be.”
Mission accomplished. Meriwether returned to “Batman” in two TV episodes in Season 2 as the mayor’s spoiled daughter who is kidnapped by villain King Tut (Victor Buono) when she shows up at a costume party dressed as Cleopatra on the arm of Bruce Wayne.
Meriwether and West kept in contact over the years, appearing together at conventions. She went to his poignant vigil on Thursday, June 15, at Los Angeles City Hall, during which L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti welcomed “the citizens of Gotham” and ordered the lighting of the Bat Signal. Hundreds attended the event, many in costume.
And yes, there were a few Catwomen there. It was the purrrrfect tribute.
“It was funny,” Meriwether said. “After the mayor spoke, and he had the police chief of Los Angeles pick up the Bat Phone to order the Bat Signal to go on the building, the crowd just went wild. It was just about that time that I found myself thinking, ‘Oh Adam, I hope you’re here.’ And I swear, there was a cold brush of air across my face and I thought, ‘Oh, you are here. We love you.’ ”