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.
Biography
West grew up reading the Batman comics. 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.
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 part 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 famed prostitute 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; has has also lent his voice to several animated television series, including The Simpsons and the animated Batman television series.
West later made a semi-regular appearance on the Fox animated series Family Guy, on which he played Adam West, mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island. This character was somewhat quirky, reflecting and reinforcing the television audience's perceptions of West since his role as Batman. (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 the superhero 'CatMan'. He also voiced similar cartoon roles on Kim Possible and Johnny Bravo.
