Adam West

Adam West (born William West Anderson on September 19, 1928) is an American actor who is known for playing the role of Principal Schwinger on the TV series The Adventures of Pete & Pete and Batman/Bruce Wayne on the TV series Batman (which also had a film adaptation).

Biography

Early life

West was born in Walla Walla, Washington to Otto West Anderson and Audrey V. Speer;^[1] he has a younger brother, John. After attending Lakeside School, a prestigious high school in Seattle, he graduated with a BA in Literature and a minor in Psychology from Whitman College^[2] in Walla Walla, Washington. At Whitman, he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, a member of the debate team, a singer in the school choir, a writer for the school newspaper, and a member of the Economics Club. He also swam, skied, ran track, and played water polo.^[2] He also was a graduate student at Stanford University.^[3] In 1950, West married 17 year old Billi Lou Yeager. He was drafted into the United States Army in the early 1950s and served two years. After the Army, West and his wife travelled through Europe before settling in Hawaii.

Acting career

Early roles

In Hawaii, West landed a role as the sidekick on a children's show called The Kini Popo Show, which featured a chimp. West later took over as the star of the show.^[4]

In 1959, West moved to Hollwood and took the stage name, "Adam West." He co-starred in the film, The Young Philadelphians, with Paul Newman, and guest starred in a number of television Westerns. He made a brief appearance on the 1964 film Robinson Crusoe on Mars.

Batman

Main articles: Batman (TV series) and Batman (1966 film)

Producer William Dozier cast West as Batman and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, in Batman, the hit television series. The popular, campy show ran from 1966 to 1968; a film version was released in 1966.

Post-Batman career

Typecasting

After 120 episodes as Batman, West found himself typecast and spent the next few years trying to remake himself.^[5] In his first role after the series ended, he starred as Johnny Cain, a smooth talking nightclub owner involved with the CIA, in the 1969 film The Girl Who Knew Too Much. The film's promotional materials tried to capitalize on West's success as Batman.^[6]

During the 1970s and 1980s, West appeared in a number of B movies, including The Happy Hooker Goes To Hollywood about the famed call girl, Xaviera Hollander. He also guest starred in episodes of several popular television series, including Love American Style, Emergency!, Laverne & Shirley, and The Love Boat.^[4]

Return to the Batman role

During this period, West often played the voice of Batman, first in the short-lived animated series, The New Adventures of Batman, and in other shows like SuperFriends: 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.^[4]

West continued to maintain an association with the character that made him famous. He had a cameo appearance in a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series on Fox, but not as Batman. Instead, West ironically voiced the part of a washed-up actor who used to play a superhero in a TV series called "The Gray Ghost" and who, now typecast as the Gray Ghost, has difficulty finding work. West later had a recurring role as the voice of Mayor Grange in the WB animated series The Batman.

Recent years

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, and The Ben Stiller Show.^[7] 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.^[8] It was later broadcast on the Trio channel.^{[citation needed]}

West appears prominently in the 2006 video for California band STEFY's song "Chelsea" as "Judge Adam West", presiding over the courtroom scene which the video is built around.

In 2005, West appeared in the CBS show The King of Queens. In the episode, Spence first asked Lou Ferrigno to go to sci-fi convention. But when Spence ran into West (playing himself), he ditched Ferrigno and asked West to come with him.

Voice-over work

West has built a career doing voice-over work on a number of animated series, including appearances on The Simpsons, The Boondocks, 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. West also voices many characters related to his famous Batman character, as mentioned above in the typecasting section.

Since 2000, West has made semi-regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, on which he plays Mayor Adam West, a parody of West himself, the lunatic mayor of fictional Quahog, Rhode Island.^[9]

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 and Scooby Doo! Unmasked.

Quotes

• On being typecast as Batman: "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."^[10]

• "Batman was an expensive show and it was losing money. I became extremely frustrated and unhappy and wanted out. There was nothing I could do to convince the producers or the studio to make improvements. I was just a hired hand. Eventually, I lost all interest because I felt the series was being neglected. They weren't spending the money they should have, and we weren't getting the scripts we deserved. I didn't want any part of this situation any more. I was tired of fighting for better shows. The program I wanted to do was no longer possible. But I hated to leave the character because Batman had been good to me."^{[citation needed]}

• On I've Got a Secret: "I had a very playful dentist...", prior to revealing his secret of once being marked with a bat picture on a tooth of his.^{[citation needed]}

Footnotes

Other sources

• West, Adam (1994). Back to the Batcave. Berkeley. ISBN 0-425-14370-8. 
• Press kit notes for The Girl Who Knew Too Much

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