West learned to embrace Batman role he couldn’t shake

Associated Press

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.

West’s deadpan portrayal of the comic hero in a campy 1960s TV series brought the Caped Crusader into the national consciousness with a “bang!” 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.

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.”

“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, which he called his “Bright Knight,” 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! He would be associated with the role for the rest of his life.

“You get terribly typecast playing a character like that,” he told The Associated Press 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 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 regularly appearing in sitcoms.

More recently, he did the voice of nutty Mayor Adam West on the long-running “Family Guy” series. In April 2012, West received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.