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Adam West: the man who made Batman a household name
Adam West, who has died in Los Angeles, aged 88, from leukaemia, was not the first actor to portray the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman, but he will be indelibly associated with the Caped Crusader. His performance in 120 episodes of the Sixties TV series, with its “Zap” “Pow!” graphics and deadpan one-liners, made it an enduring cult classic, with more than a hint of camp.
Tall and well-built, with a degree in literature and psychology, West was already in his late thirties when he took the role, which ensured that his portrayal of a masked crime fighter in tights and pants demanded a complete suspension of disbelief on the part of both actor and audience.
Far from being unwittingly bad, the show was created by the talented screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jnr, who would go on to write Papillon (1973), The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975), and it demanded an actor who understood its campy, comic-book wit.
Decades before the advent of the Sharknado films, West could be seen clinging to a rope ladder dangling from a helicopter while a rubber shark clung teeth-first to his leg, but still deliver the line “Hand me down the Shark-Repellent Bat Spray” with a straight face. It was no easy task, but West played it with such elan and became so identified with the role that it effectively ended his chances of an acting career beyond it.
Before taking the part, he had appeared in small parts in a number of films and TV shows, from westerns to detective dramas, such as Perry Mason. Afterwards, he did land the lead role in a crime film, The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969), but it was not a hit and for many years after, he was effectively confined to guest slots on shows such as Bewitched, The Love Boat and Hart to Hart, alongside B-movie roles, like the one he played in the 1982 low-budget horror One Dark Night.
He wanted to play the part of Batman, which went to Michael Keaton, in Tim Burton’s 1989 film of the same name, and was very disappointed not even to get a cameo role, although he was reportedly considered for the role of Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s father Thomas.
In later years, he continued to guest star, often as himself, in series such as The Big Bang Theory. This gave rise, rather unkindly to the concept of Adam Westing, a term used to describe an actor who becomes a parody of himself, but West always displayed an ability to send himself up with a knowing irony.
This led to him being offered the role of the tough-talking mayor of Quahog in Seth MacFarlane’s brilliant adult cartoon Family Guy, perhaps inevitably called Adam West. He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.