Adam West: Encyclopedia - Adam West

Adam West

Adam West (born William West Anderson on September 19, 1928 in Walla Walla, Washington) is best known as the actor who played the role of Batman on the original television program that ran from 1966 to 1968.

Adam West - Biography

After attending Lakeside School, a prestigious high school in Seattle, he graduated from nearby Whitman College where he majored in literature and psychology and was married. He served two years in the United States Army. He worked as a disc jockey, truck driver, and cowboy, then travelled with his wife around Europe, where he sometimes worked as a milkman. Eventually he settled in Hawaii where he got a role on a light entertainment show called The Kini Popo Show. In Hawaii he divorced his first wife and married a Hawaiian woman.

In the 1960s, various roles in films and television brought him to the attention of William Dozier, who cast him as Batman in the 1960s hit television series. West has said he was also invited to play James Bond after Sean Connery decided to give up the role, and that he was almost a majority of the three big B's of the 1960s: Bond, Batman, and The Beatles. The Batman show was internationally successful as light camp entertainment, running from 1966 to 1968 and even producing a feature film.

After the show ended, West was typecast as Batman and had trouble playing other roles; audiences identified him as Batman and no one else. Even his convincing lead performance as cynical tough guy Johnny Cain in the 1969 film The Girl Who Knew Too Much did not erode his Batman image.

He never stopped working after Batman and during the 1970s and 1980s appeared in a range of B-grade films and non-aired TV pilots, including The Happy Hooker Goes To Hollywood about the famed call girl, Xaviera Hollander.

During the 1990s he achieved partial cult status, appearing as himself in such films as The Size of Watermelons and Drop Dead Gorgeous. West has has also lent his voice to several animated television series, including The Simpsons and the animated Batman television series. In 1991 he starred in the pilot episode for Lookwell, in which he portrayed a washed-up TV action hero who falsely believes he can solve crimes in real life. The pilot, written by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel, has accrued a reputation for being one of the funniest potential series not to be picked up by a network. It was later broadcast on the Trio channel.

West had a cameo appearance on the Fox animated version of Batman, Batman: The Animated Series. In the episode "Beware the Gray Ghost", West voices The Gray Ghost, a tribute to early superhero characters like The Shadow and the Crimson Avenger, and an early childhood inspiration to Bruce Wayne.

West makes semi-regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, on which he plays Mayor Adam West, the near-lunatic mayor of fictional Quahog, Rhode Island (though "Mayor Adam West" was not originally intended to be voiced by the real Adam West.)

Adam West also appears on Nickelodeon's animated series The Fairly OddParents, with the same personality as Family Guy portrayed. A few episodes make fun of his role as Batman by casting him as Adam West, the superhero Catman and major Hollywood star. He also voiced cartoon roles on Kim Possible as Timothy North, a washed-up actor who believes he is the superhero he portrayed on television, The Fearless Ferret. He also starred on the Cartoon Network series Johnny Bravo. In The Batman, he plays the mayor of Gotham City named Marion Grange, and most recently has done voice over work for The Boondocks.

He is also a canny investor who has appeared on FOXs Cashin' In show about the stock market and investments in general. (Wayne Rogers is another investing actor who has appeared on the show.)

Adam West - Filmography

• Voodoo Island (1957)
• The Young Philadelphians (1959)
• The FBI Story (1959) (voice only)
• Geronimo (1962)
• Tammy and the Doctor (1963)
• Soldier in the Rain (1963)
• Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)
• The Relentless Four (1965)
• The Outlaws Is Coming (1965)
• Mara of the Wilderness (1965)
• Batman (1966)
• The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969)
• Hollywood Blue (1970) (documentary)
• The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971)
• Curse of the Moon Child (1972)
• Tactical Guerilla (1974)
• The Specialist (1975)
• Fiona (1977)
• Hooper (1978) (Cameo)
• The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980)
• One Dark Night (1983)
• Hellriders (1984)
• Young Lady Chatterly II (1985)
• Zombie Nightmare (1986)
• Night of the Kickfighters (1988)
• Doin' Time on Planet Earth (1988)
• Going Undercover (1988)
• Omega Cop (1990)
• Mad About You (1990)
• Return Fire (1991)
• Maxim Xul (1991)
• The Best Movie Ever Made (1994) (Cameo)
• The New Age (1994)
• Not This Part of the World (1994)
• Ride for Your Life (1995) (short subject)
• The Clinic (1995)
• The Size of Watermelons (1996) (Cameo)
• Joyride (1996)
• Redux Riding Hood (1997) (short subject) (voice)
• An American Vampire Story (1997)
• Behind the Sting (1999) (documentary)
• Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) (Cameo)
• Seance (2001)
• From Heaven to Hell (2002)
• Baadasssss! (2003)
• Tales from Beyond (2004)
• Buckaroo (2005)
• Chicken Little (2005) (voice)
• Angels with Angles (2005)

Upcoming:

• Sexina: Popstar P.I. (2006)
• Frankie the Squirrel (2006)

Adam West - Television Work

• The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor (cast member from 1961-1962)
• Batman (1966-1968)
• Alexander the Great (1968)
• The Eyes of Charles Sand (1972)
• Poor Devil (1973)
• Shazam! (cast member from 1974-1975) (voice)
• Nevada Smith (1975)
• The New Adventures of Batman (1977-1978) (voice)
• Tarzan and the Super 7 (1978-1980) (voice)
• Legends of the Superheroes (1979)
• For the Love of It (1980)
• Warp Speed (1981)
• I Take These Men (1983)
• SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984) (canceled after 16 episodes) (voice)
• The Super Powers Team: Galatic Guardians (1986) (canceled after 10 episodes) (voice)
• The Last Precinct (1986) (canceled after 7 episodes)
• Lookwell (1991) (unsold pilot)
• 1775 (1992)
• Danger Theatre (1993) (canceled after 7 episodes)
• The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1993-1996)
• The Secret Files of the SpyDogs (1998-1999) (voice)
• Family Guy (1999-Present (voice)
• Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (2003)

Adam West - Quotes

• "It was inescapable. I'd just about land something substantial, something I like or a good career move. Then some dinosaur would rear up and say, 'But the audience will think of him as Batman.' It was formidable. It was there like a brick wall." on being typecast as Batman

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Adam West", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki