AS JOAQUIN PHOENIX DEFENDS NEW MOVIE WE CA

Cesar Romero Jack Nicholson Mark Hamill Heath Ledger

THE first screen Joker from the 1960s TV series was a camp mischievious villain full of laughter and glee at his plots – a far cry from the darker versions to come. Before the role, CubanAmerican actor Romero generally played Latin lovers, earning the nickname “the Latin from Manhattan”.

Referred to as a “confirmed bachelor”, he escorted actresses such as Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford and Lucille Ball on Hollywood red carpets. Details of his wide-ranging gay sex life only emerged in a book published after his death called Hollywood Gays, where he revealed he’d had sex with Lucille Ball’s husband and I Love Lucy co-star Desi Arnaz. Bagging the Joker role aged 59, Romero refused to shave his moustache and his white makeup was smeared over it.

After the TV series and 1966 film, Romero mainly appeared in guest roles.

He died in 1994 aged 86 from blood clot-related complications. FOR those mainly familiar with the camp 1960s series, Tim Burton’s dark retelling of the Caped Crusader legend in 1989’s Batman was quite a shock.

With Michael Keaton as the brooding billionaire superhero, actors including Robin Williams, Willem Dafoe and even David Bowie were linked with the Joker role until it went to Nicholson – along with a $6million pay packet, huge by 80s’ standards, and a slice of box office profits. By then he was already a huge star who had won two Oscars and starred in films including The Shining and Chinatown. Nicholson’s Joker was a gangster called Jack Napier, transformed into the character after a dip in a vat of chemicals disfigures his appearance.

His version was obsessed with money, fame and fashion – supermodel Jerry Hall played his girlfriend – who killed people with their own beauty products. Nicholson, now 82, won a third Oscar for As Good As It Gets in 1998. ★

THE Clown Prince of Crime is back in cinemas this week in new film Joker – which has already attracted controversy.

Joaquin Phoenix portrays the super-villain in the hotly-anticipated psychological thriller, which has sparked fears it may trigger copycat violence.

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Set in the early 1980s, his take on Batman’s nemesis is a failed and lonely comedian, pushed out by society and mentally ill, who slowly descends into madness and murder.

But Phoenix has defended the film, saying: “You can’t blame movies for a world that is so f***ed up that anything can trigger it.

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“That’s kind of what the movie is about,” explains the star, adding: “It’s not a BEST known as Luke Skywalker, Hamill voiced the Joker in several cartoon TV series and films from 1992 onwards. After the Star Wars films, the actor was typecast and struggled to find Tinseltown work, instead appearing on stage.

But he won praise for his role as the Joker, making the character both playful and sinister.

As well as doing voiceover work on various shows,

Hamill has been back in the limelight thanks to the rebooted

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Skywalker out this year. call to action. If anything it’s a call to self-reflection to society.”

The Joker has been in Batman’s world ever since the debut Batman comic in 1940.

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And psychologists believe our fascination with the character stems from what he represents – the chaos, selfishness and negative side of our personalities which would take control if not stopped by our sense of what’s right. This latest incarnation of the criminal mastermind is set to be a box-office smash but plenty of other actors have plastered on the makeup to play the iconic baddie.

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NADINE LINGE looks at them – and what happened to the actors after. THE Aussie actor ripped up all when he turned in his perfo Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knigh

Playing the character as psychopath and mass murde people for his own amuse locked himself in a hotel room get the performance right.

He even kept a diary writte with things which would mak laugh and had input into his and outfits.

But before the film was Ledger tragically died from overdose of prescription dru 2008. He was just 28.

While some linked his death from playing the Joker, those insisted he loved the role and it again, blaming his overdos insomnia.

After the film’s release, cri performance one of the great and he was awarded an Oscar