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Adam West

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Adam West
Adam West

Adam West (born William West Anderson on September 27, 1925 in Walla Walla, Washington, USA) is an American actor, best known for playing the role of Batman on the original television program that ran from 1966 to 1968. He currently voices himself in the animated sitcom Family Guy as the mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island.

Contents

Biography

After attending Lakeside School, a prestigious high school in Seattle, he graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, 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 named Ngatokoruaimatauaia Frisbie Dawson, whom Adam called Nga.

Adam West as Batman
Adam West as Batman

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.

In 1979, West returned to the role of Batman in Legends of the Super-Heroes. He returned again in 1983, this time in animated form on the Super Friends cartoon, taking over from previous Batman Olan Soule.

Lookwell pilot episode.
Enlarge
Lookwell pilot episode.

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 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, . 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. His performance in the episode is considered by many of his fans as some of his finest work.

Adam West plays "Mayor Adam West" on the animated sitcom Family Guy
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Adam West plays "Mayor Adam West" on the animated sitcom Family Guy

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, as himself, but is said to have portrayed the superhero Catman and is a 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 also played the voice of General Carrington in the video game XIII.

He is also a canny investor who has appeared on Fox's Cashin' In show about the stock market and investments in general.

In 2006, West appeared as a contestant on the revival of I've Got a Secret.

Filmography

Upcoming:

Television work

Video Games

References

  • Press kit notes for The Girl Who Knew Too Much

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
"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."

External links

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