The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1960s Batman actor Adam West dies at 88
Show was among most popular, drew era’s top actors.
He chafed at being typecast, but later admitted he was pleased to have had a role in kicking off a big-budget film franchise.
LOS ANGELES — 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.
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, but West’s deadpan portrayal in a campy 1960’s TV series brought the Caped Crusader into the national consciousness with a “bang!”
West died Friday night after “a short but brave battle with leukemia,” his publicist, Molly Schoneveld, said 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 put 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. “We played it terribly serious, and that’s half the fun of it.”
West’s Batman 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! West would be associated with the role for the rest of his life.
“You get terribly typecast playing a character like that,” he said in a 2014 interview. “But in the overall, I’m delighted because my character became iconic and has opened a lot of doors in other ways, too.”
“Batman” was among the most popular TV shows in 1966, the year of its debut, and some of the era’s top actors signed on to play villains.
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 re-emerged as Hollywood mainstays beginning with the first of an ongoing series of Batman movies 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 television, appearing in “Laverne & Shirley” and “Fantasy Island.”
But he said he had been turned down for some roles because of his time portraying millionaire Bruce Wayne and his spandex-wearing alter ego.
“It is kind of a double-edged sword, but I made up my mind a long time ago to enjoy it,” West told the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs, Calif., in a June 2006 interview. “Not many actors get the chance to create a signature character.”