Adam West

Adam West
West in 1961
Born	William West Anderson (1928-09-19) September 19, 1928 Walla Walla, Washington U.S.
Education	Lakeside School
Alma mater	Whitman College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–present
Known for	Batman, Mayor West, Catman
Television	Batman, Family Guy, The Fairly OddParents
Spouse(s)	Billie Lou Yeager (m. 1950–56) Ngatokoruaimatauaia 'Nga' Frisbie Dawson[1] (m. 1957–62) Marcelle Tagand Lear (m. 1970)
Children	6
Website	www.adamwest.com

Adam West (born William West Anderson; September 19, 1928) is an American film, television, character, voice and stage actor, whose career spans six decades of television, who's also the figure in the comic book and superhero community. He has also appeared as a guest on several talk shows, variety shows and as a panelist on numerous game shows.

Through West's longest career, his acting career began in films in 1959, among the Westerns that he appeared in, playing opposite Chuck Connors in Geronimo (1962) and Joe DeRita in The Outlaws Is Coming (1965). He has also appeared in the science fiction flick, opposite Paul Mantee in Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). He also achieved continuing success for the title role in the 1960s ABC campy series Batman and its theatrical feature film. He has done voice work on animated series such as The Fairly OddParents and Family Guy, in both of which he voices fictional versions of himself.

Early life

Adam West was born as William West Anderson on September 19, 1928, in Walla Walla, Washington,^[2] to Otto West Anderson (January 25, 1903 – October 9, 1984)^[3],^[4] and Audrey V. Speer (1906–69).^[5] His paternal grandparents were Swedish.^[3] His father was a farmer, his mother, an opera singer and concert pianist who was forced to abandon her own Hollywood dreams to care for her family.^[6] Following her example, West revealed to his father as a youth that he intended after school to go to Hollywood. He moved to Seattle when he was 15 with his mother following his parents' divorce.^[7]

West attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years, and later enrolled in Lakeside School in Seattle. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and a minor in Psychology from Whitman College^[8] in Walla Walla where he was a member of the Gamma Zeta Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He also participated on the speech and debate team. Drafted into the United States Army, he served as an announcer on American Forces Network television. After his discharge, he worked for a time as a milkman before moving to Hawaii to pursue television.^[6]

Early roles

While living in Hawaii, West picked a role as the sidekick on a children's show called El Kini Popo Show, which featured a chimp. West later took over as star of the show.^[9] In 1959, West moved with his wife and two children to Hollywood.^[6] There, he took the stage name Adam West. In his autobiography Back to the Batcave he explains that he chose 'Adam' simply because he liked the way it looked and sounded with 'West', his middle name. His close friends and family still call him "Bill".

He appeared in the film The Young Philadelphians including Paul Newman, and guest-starred in a number of television Westerns. On three Warner Brothers westerns aired on ABC, Sugarfoot, Colt .45, and Lawman, West played the role of Doc Holliday, the frontier dentist and gunfighter. He portrayed Wild Bill Hickok in the episode "Westbound Stage" of the 1960 NBC western series Overland Trail, with William Bendix and Doug McClure.

He guest starred on Edmond O'Brien's syndicated crime drama Johnny Midnight and soon snagged a supporting role as police sergeant Steve Nelson in the crime drama, The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. He made a few guest appearances on Perry Mason in the early 1960s and appeared once on Walter Brennan's sitcom, The Real McCoys.

On January 10, 1961, West appeared as a young ambitious deputy who foolishly confronts a gunfighter named Clay Jackson, portrayed by Jock Mahoney, in the episode "The Man from Kansas" of the NBC western series Laramie. Jackson is a "Robin Hood" masked gunslinger and bandit whose presence in Laramie brings Jess Harper and Slim Sherman (series characters played by Robert Fuller and John Smith) into conflict over Jackson's veracity. From the start, Slim had considered Jackson a cutthroat and is proved correct as the plot unfolds.^[10]

West made two guest appearances on Perry Mason in 1961 and 1962. His first role was as small-town journalist Dan Southern in "The Case of the Barefaced Witness." His other role was as folk singer Pete Norland in "The Case of the Bogus Books."

West starred in an episode of the original ABC Outer Limits television series titled "The Invisible Enemy". He made a brief appearance in the film Soldier in the Rain starring Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen and starred as Major Dan McCready, the ill-fated mission commander of 'Mars Gravity Probe 1' in the 1964 film Robinson Crusoe on Mars. In 1965, he was cast in the comedy western The Outlaws Is Coming, the last feature film starring The Three Stooges. He played the character Christopher Rolf in the episode "Stopover", of ABC's The Rifleman , which aired on April 25, 1961.

West as Batman

Batman

Producer William Dozier cast West as Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, in the television series Batman, in part after seeing West perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé Quik television ad. West was in competition with Lyle Waggoner for the Batman role.

The popular campy show ran on ABC from 1966 to 1968; a film version was released in 1966.^[11]

In 1970, West was offered the role of James Bond by Cubby Broccoli for the film Diamonds Are Forever. West did not accept, later stating in his autobiography that he believed the role should always be played by a British actor. The potential casting as Bond became moot when Broccoli convinced Sean Connery to return to the role.

Post-Batman career

After his high-profile role, West, along with Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig (who played crime-fighting sidekicks Robin and Batgirl), was severely typecast. West's first post-Caped Crusader role was in the film The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969). His lead performance against type as cynical tough guy Johnny Cain did not erode his Batman image; the movie was a box office disappointment.

West in 1989 at the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards

For a time, West made a living doing personal appearances as Batman. In 1972, when Ward and Craig reprised their Batman roles for a TV public-service announcement about equal pay for women, West was absent. Instead, Dick Gautier filled in as Batman. One of his more memorable Batman appearances post-series was when he made an appearance in the Memphis, Tennessee based United States Wrestling Association to engage in a war of words with Jerry "The King" Lawler while wearing the cowl and a track suit and even name-dropping Spider-Man, though he is a Marvel Comics hero.^[12]

West subsequently appeared in the theatrical films The Marriage of a Young Stockbrocker (1971), The Curse of the Moon Child (1972), The Specialist (1975), Hardcore (1977), Hooper (as himself; 1978), The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980) and One Dark Night (1983). West also appeared in such television films as The Eyes of Charles Sand (1972), Poor Devil (1973), Nevada Smith (1975), For the Love of It (1980) and I Take These Men (1983).

He did guest shots on the TV shows Maverick, Love, American Style, Bonanza, The Big Valley, Night Gallery, Alias Smith and Jones, Mannix, Emergency!, Alice, Police Woman, Operation Petticoat, The American Girls, Vega$, Big Shamus Little Shamus, Laverne & Shirley, Bewitched, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Hart to Hart, Zorro, The King of Queens, and George Lopez. West was also in an episode of Bonanza that supposedly never aired until reruns were shown. West also made several guest appearances as himself on Family Feud. In 1986, West starred in the TV comedy cop show titled The Last Precinct.

Return to Batman

West often reprised his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, first in the short-lived animated series, The New Adventures of Batman, and in other shows such as The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour, Tarzan and the Super 7, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (succeeding Olan Soule in the role). In 1979, West once again donned the Batsuit for the live-action TV special Legends of the Superheroes.^[9] In 1985, DC Comics named West as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great for his work on the Batman series.^[13]

West was considered to play Thomas Wayne in Tim Burton's Batman. Originally, he wanted to play Batman.^[14][15] West made an appearance in a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series on Fox, but not as Batman (as the role of Batman was already being played by Kevin Conroy, who is now considered to be in the same league as West with Batman). Instead, he portrayed Simon Trent, a washed-up actor who used to play a superhero in a TV series called The Gray Ghost and who now has difficulty finding work. The producers nearly considered scrapping that episode as they figured it mirrored Adam West too much, however West gladly accepted voicing such a character. West later had a recurring role as the voice of Mayor Grange in the WB animated series The Batman.

The actor vocally reprised his role as Batman for the CGI animated short film Batman: New Times. He co-starred with Mark Hamill, who vocally portrayed The Joker and had originally played the role on Batman: The Animated Series. West also voiced Tom Wayne, Bruce Wayne's father, in an episode of the cartoon series Batman: The Brave and the Bold. In the same series, he played Batman's prototype robot, aptly named "Protobot", or "Proto" for short.

1990s–2000s

West at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con

During the 1990s, West's status as a pop culture icon led to appearances as himself in the film Drop Dead Gorgeous and in several television series, including NewsRadio, Murphy Brown, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, The Ben Stiller Show^[16] and The Drew Carey Show.^[17] In 1991, he starred in the pilot episode of Lookwell, in which he portrayed a has-been TV action hero who falsely believes he can solve mysteries in real life. The pilot, written by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel in their pre-Late Night period, aired on NBC that summer but was not picked up as a series.^[18] It was later broadcast on the Trio channel, under the "Brilliant But Cancelled" block.^[19] In 1994, West played a non comedic role as the father of Peter Weller's character in the Michael Tolkin film, The New Age.

He played a washed up superhero in the Goosebumps television series episode "Attack of the Mutant". The boy hero is a comic book geek whose favorite superhero, Galloping Gazelle (West's character), is portrayed as fading and on the verge of retirement. Towards the end, the boy is shocked to learn that the Gazelle is real, though he must save the day by himself.

In 1994, West, with Jeff Rovin, wrote his autobiography, Back to the Batcave published by Berkeley Books. He also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode titled "Batmantis", where he displayed his book. That episode was essentially a parody to his Batman TV series, where Zorak dressed himself as "Batmantis", a praying mantis version of Batman.

In 1996, Virgin Interactive released the gambling simulation game Golden Nugget on PlayStation. Adam West acted in the video cut scenes of the "Chaos Mystery" storyline subgame. In 2001, he played the super-villain Breathtaker on the short-lived TV series Black Scorpion.

In 2003, West and Burt Ward starred in the TV-movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt, alongside Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, and Lee Meriwether. Jack Brewer portrayed West in flashbacks to the production of Batman. In 2005, West appeared in the CBS show The King of Queens. In the episode, Spence first asks Lou Ferrigno to go to a sci-fi convention. But when Spence meets West (playing himself), he leaves Ferrigno and asks West to come with him. West appears prominently in the 2006 video for California band STEFY's song "Chelsea" as "Judge Adam West", presiding over the courtroom scene.

In 2007, Adam West played an attorney for Benny on the show George Lopez, and starred as "The Boss" in the movie comedy Sexina: Popstar PI.^[20] Following the release of a Batman game, a host of the show X-Play visited Adam West on the show. In 2009, West played himself in the episode "Apollo, Apollo" of 30 Rock.

Voice-over work

Having a distinctive voice, West built a career doing voice-over work on a number of animated series (often as himself), including appearances on The Simpsons, Futurama, Rugrats, The Critic, Histeria!, Kim Possible, Johnny Bravo and even in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series called Beware the Gray Ghost, where he voiced the Gray Ghost. He also appeared in many episodes of Nickelodeon's cartoon, The Fairly OddParents, as a cat-obsessed version of himself who is famous for playing a superhero called Catman, and who actually believes he is Catman. Catman is a parody of his earlier character as Batman. A later appearance of Adam West in The Fairly OddParents world was a parody of himself, hired to play the role of the Crimson Chin in the movie of the same name. Yet another appearance on the show had him as himself in a Fairy-sponsored video about how to cope with losing one's fairy godparents.

Since 2000, West has made regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, on which he plays Mayor Adam West, the lunatic mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island. His role has given him a new wave of popularity since Batman,^[21] and lead writer Seth MacFarlane claims to have gone out of his way to avoid typecasting West by deliberately not making any references to Batman.^[22] Some of his latest voice-over performances were playing the role of Uncle Art in the Disney Animation film Meet the Robinsons, and voicing the young Mermaid Man (along with Burt Ward, who voiced the young Barnacle Boy) in the cartoon show SpongeBob SquarePants, in the episode "Back to the Past" of 2010. The Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy characters are sea parodies of both Batman and Robin respectively (both heroes have a TV show), and Mermaid Man's old age is a humorous reference to West's age.

West also played the voice of General Carrington in the video game XIII, and has voiced other video games like Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Chicken Little: Ace in Action, Scooby Doo! Unmasked and Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant. For the online game Champions Online, his voice is used in one of the website's videos.

West has also done voice-over work for superhero-themed commercials for the investment firm The LendingTree and TV commercials for Hebrew National hot dogs.

2010s–present

West in 2014

In 2010, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.^[23] West received the 2,468th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 5, 2012.^[24] His star is located at 6764 Hollywood Blvd in front of the Guinness Museum in Hollywood, California.

Another TV superhero, William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) was also persuaded to put on his old costume, as a joke in an award ceremony. Although Katt had also worried about typecasting, he has gradually accepted it, saying, "What the heck, if Adam West could learn to live with it, so can I."

West has appeared in a number of videos for Funnyordie.com.^[25]

Adam West was interviewed in 2013 on the PBS series called Pioneers of Television in the season three episode called "Superheroes".

Also in 2013, he was the subject of the documentary Starring Adam West.^[26]

West is among the interview subjects in Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, a three-hour documentary narrated by Liev Schreiber that premiered on PBS in October 2013.^[27] He has also done voice-over work for Futurama (season 10, episode 9, "Leela and the Genestalk").

In November 2014, West voiced himself, and the 1960s version of Batman, in the video game Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.

On 9 October 2014, West was a guest star on the "Huffpost Live" show talking about his Batman role and the upcoming release of all 120 episodes of his Batman series.^[28]

In February 2016, it was revealed that West would guest star as himself on the 200th episode of The Big Bang Theory.^[29]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

Other sources

• West, Adam (1994). Back to the Batcave. Berkeley. ISBN 978-0-425-14370-4. 
• Press kit notes for The Girl Who Knew Too Much

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adam West.

• Official website
• Adam West at the Internet Movie Database
• Adam West as Batman
• Adam West interview in Dangerous Ink Magazine
• Adam West gets back in the Batmobile
• Adam West on Twitter
• "Jean Boone – Interview with Cast of Batman, The Movie (1966)" from the Texas Archive of the Moving Image
• Adam West interview video at the Archive of American Television