Adam West (born September 19, 1928) is an American
actor best known for his lead role in the 1960s TV series
Batman and the
film of the same name. He is currently
known for portraying
eccentric versions of himself, as
well as his voice work on animated series such as
Fairly Oddparents and
Family Guy.
Early life
West was
born William West Anderson in Seattle,
Washington
to Otto West Anderson and Audrey V. Speer.
He has a younger brother named John.
He 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 in Walla Walla where he was
a member of the
Beta Theta Pi
fraternity and participated on the speech and debate team.
Early roles
In Hawaii, West landed 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.
In 1959, the actor moved to Hollywood and took the stage name "Adam
West." He appeared in the film
The Young Philadelphians with
Paul Newman, and guest-starred in a
number of television
Westerns. 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 portrayed
Wild Bill Hickok in the episode "Westbound
Stage" of the 1960
NBC western series
Overland Trail, with
William Bendix and
Doug McClure. He starred in an episode of the
original television series
The Outer Limits
titled "The Invisible Enemy." He made a brief appearance in the
film
Soldier in the
Rain starring
Jackie Gleason
and
Steve McQueen and in the 1964 film
Robinson Crusoe on
Mars. In 1965, he starred in the comedy western
The Outlaws Is
Coming, the last feature film starring
The Three Stooges. He also was in an
episode of Bonanza that was aired during reruns.
Batman
Producer
William Dozier cast West as
Batman and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne (in
part, after seeing West perform as the
James
Bond-like spy Captain Q in a
Nestlé
Quik television ad), in
Batman, the hit television
series. West beat out
Lyle Waggoner
for the Batman role.
The popular,
campy show ran on
ABC from 1966 to 1968; a
film version was released in
1966.
In 1970, West was offered the role of
James
Bond by
Cubby Broccoli for the
film
Diamonds Are
Forever. West declined, later stating in his autobiography
that he believed the role should always be played by someone
British.
Post-Batman career
After his high-profile role, West, along with
Burt Ward and
Yvonne
Craig (who played crimefighting sidekicks
Robin and
Batgirl) was
badly
typecast. West's first
post-Caped Crusader role was in the 1969 release
The Girl Who Knew Too
Much. He played against type as a tough, hard-boiled
assassin. The movie was a failure and has almost become a
lost film.
For a time, West made a living doing personal appearances as
Batman. In 1972 however, 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.
West subsequently appeared in the theatrical films
The Marriage
of a Young Stockbrocker (1971),
The Curse of the Moon
Child (1972),
Partizani/Hell River (1974),
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
Love, American Style,
The Big Valley,
Night Gallery,
Alias Smith and Jones,
Mannix,
Emergency!,
Alice,
Police Woman,
Operation Petticoat,
The
American Girls,
Vegas,
Big Shamus Little
Shamus,
Laverne &
Shirley,
Bewitched,
Fantasy Island,
The Love Boat,
Hart to Hart,
Zorro,
King of Queens, and
George Lopez.
His typecasting kept him from landing more substantial roles. In
recent years, West has exploited his fate to poke fun at his status
as a pop-culture icon.
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
Super Friends:
The Legendary Super Powers Show,
The Super Powers Team:
Galactic Guardians. In 1979, West once again put on the
Batsuit for the live-action TV special
Legends of the
Superheroes.
West made a cameo 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). 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. 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.
1990s - 2000s
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 and
The Drew Carey Show. 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 crimes in real life.
The pilot, written by
Conan O'Brien
and
Robert Smigel, aired on NBC that
summer but was not picked up as a series. It was later broadcast on
the
Trio channel, under the "Brilliant
But Cancelled" imprint.
Noticeably, 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 (ISBN
0-425-14370-8). 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.
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 portrayed a defense attorney for Benny on the
show
George Lopez,
and starred as "The Boss" in the movie comedy S
exina: Popstar
PI.
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
West's character on
Family
Guy.
West built a career doing voice-over work on a number of animated
series (often as himself), including appearances on
The Simpsons,
The Critic,
The Boondocks,
Histeria!,
Kim
Possible, and
Johnny
Bravo. He also appeared in five 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. West also voiced many characters
related to his famous Batman character, as mentioned above in the
typecasting section.
Since
2000, West has made regular appearances on the animated series
Family Guy, on which he plays
Mayor Adam West, a parody of
West himself, the lunatic mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island
. His role has given him a new wave of
popularity since Batman. His latest voice-over performance was
playing the role of Uncle Art in the
Disney film
Meet the Robinsons.
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.
West has also done voice-over work for the investment firm
LendingTree.
Filmography
- Short Subjects:
- Ride for Your Life (1995)
- Redux Riding Hood (1997) (voice)
- Batman: New Times
(2005) (voice)
Television
- Lookwell (1991, unsold
pilot)
- 1775 (1992, unsold pilot)
- Batman: The Animated
Series (1992, cameo in Episode 18, voice)
- The Ben Stiller
Show (1992, guest star)
- Danger Theatre
(1993)
- Space Ghost Coast to
Coast (1994, himself)
- The Simpsons (1994, 2002,
voice)
- The Adventures
of Pete & Pete (1993-1996)
- Johnny Bravo (1997)
- The Wayans Bros (1997,
himself)
- The Secret
Files of the Spy Dogs (1998-1999, voice)
- Histeria! (1999, voice)
- The Fairly
OddParents (recurring cast member, voice)
- Family Guy (2000 - present,
voice, himself)
- The
Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (2001, voices)
- Return
to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt
(2003)
- Kim Possible (2003,
episode The Fearless Ferret,
voice)
- Monster Island
(2004)
- Celebrity
Deathmatch (1998-2001, 2005-2006, himself)
- George Lopez
(2007)
- The Boondocks
(2006)
- 30 Rock (2009, himself)
References
- Genealogy.com: Ancestry of Adam West
- Interview, Whitman Magazine, December 2006
- Adam West biography at Hollywood.com.
- Hotel Drew episode summary at TV.com.
- Conan O'Brien bio at TVGuide.com.
- Wilonsky, Robert. " 12,
2002/culture/end-of-the-road/full End of the Road", the
Miami New
Times, published December 12, 2002, accessed 2007-05-30.
- See main article at Adam West
Other sources
- Press kit notes for The Girl Who Knew Too Much
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search
