Adam West

Infobox actor
name = Adam West


caption = West at the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards, 1989.
birthname = William West Anderson
birthdate = birth date and age|1928|09|19
location = Walla Walla, Washington, U.S.A.
yearsactive = 1950's - Present
spouse = Billie Lou Yeager (1950-1956)
Frisbie Dawson (1957-1962)
Marcelle Tagand Lear (1971-Present)
homepage = http://www.adamwest.com
notable role = Bruce Wayne/Batman
in "Batman"Mayor Adam West
on "Family Guy"
academyawards = Outstanding Supporting Role The Outlaws Is Coming (1957)
emmyawards = Outstanding Guest Star in A Comedy Series Mayor Adam West, Family Guy
tonyawards = Adam West (born William West Anderson on September 19, 1928) is an American actor who is best known for playing the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne on the 1960s TV series "Batman" (which also had a film adaptation).

Biography

Adam West was born in Walla Walla, Washington to Otto West Anderson and Audrey V. Speer. [ [http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/adamw/index.html Genealogy.com: Ancestry of Adam West ] ] He has a younger brother named John. He attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years, and later enrolled in Lakeside School in Seattle. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and a minor in Psychology from Whitman CollegeInterview, "Whitman Magazine", December 2006] in Walla Walla.

Acting career

West started acting on television in the 1950's, appearing in small roles as straight men to mostly comedic characters.

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.imdb name | id=0001842 | name=Adam West]

In 1959, West moved to Hollywood 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 soon snagged a supporting role as Sgt. Steve Nelson in the cop show "The Detectives". He also starred in an episode of the original television series The Outer Limits titled The Invisible Enemy. He also made a brief appearance in the 1964 film "Robinson Crusoe on Mars". In 1965, he starred in the comedy western "The Outlaws is Coming", the last feature film starring The Three Stooges.

Batman

Producer William Dozier cast West as Batman and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne (in part, after seeing West perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé Quik television ad), in "Batman", the hit television series. West beat out Lyle Waggoner for the Batman role.

The popular, campy show ran on ABC from 1966 to 1968; a film version was released in 1966.

West was at one point offered the role of James Bond by Cubby Broccoli in 1970 for the film "Diamonds Are Forever". West declined, later stating in his autobiography that he believed the role should always be played by someone British, referencing Australian George Lazenby's unpopular time in the role.

Post-Batman career

Typecasting

After his high profile role in Batman, West, Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig (who played crimefighting sidekicks Robin and Batgirl respectively) were badly typecast in their roles. West's first post-Caped Crusader role was in the 1969 release "The Girl Who Knew Too Much". He played against type as a tough, hard-boiled assassin. The movie was a failure and has almost become a lost film.

For a time, West was forced to make a living entirely doing personal appearances as Batman. In 1972 however, when Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig reprised their Batman roles for a TV public service announcement about equal pay for women, West was absent. Instead, Dick Gautier filled-in for West as Batman.

West subsequently appeared in the theatrical films "The Marriage of a Young Stockbrocker" (1971), "The Curse of the Moon Child" (1972), "Partizani/Hell River" (1974), "The Specialist" (1975), "Hardcore" (1977), "Hooper" (as himself; 1978), "The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood" (1980) and "One Dark Night" (1983). (Incidentally, "the Dark Knight" is the nickname of Batman, the character with whom West has become so inextricably associated.) West also appeared in such television films as "The Eyes of Charles Sand" (1972), "Poor Devil" (1973), "Nevada Smith" (1975), "For the Love of It" (1980) and "I Take These Men" (1983).

He also did guest shots on the popular TV shows "Love, American Style", The Big Valley, "Night Gallery", "Alias Smith and Jones", "Mannix", "Emergency!", "Alice", "Police Woman", "Operation Petticoat", "The American Girls", "Vegas", "Big Shamus Little Shamus", "Laverne & Shirley", "Bewitched", "Fantasy Island", "The Love Boat", "Hart to Hart" and "King of Queens".

His typecasting, however, always brought these to naught. In recent years, however, West has exploited his typecasting to receive a number of roles that are either self-parody or otherwise poke fun at his status as a pop-culture icon.

Return to the Batman role

During this period, West often reprised his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, first in the short-lived animated series, "The New Adventures of Batman", and in other shows like ', '. In 1979, West once again put on the Batsuit for the live-action TV special, "Legends of the Superheroes".

West continued to maintain an association with the character that made him famous. He had a cameo appearance in a 1992 episode of "" on FOX, but not as Batman. Instead, West voiced the part of Simon Trent, 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".

Adam West once again provided the voice of Batman, in the CGI animated brickfilm, "". In that movie, he starred alongside Mark Hamill, who provided the voice of The Joker and had originally played the role on "Batman: The Animated Series".

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", "The Adventures of Pete and Pete", "The Ben Stiller Show" [ [http://www.hollywood.com/celebritydetail/Adam_West/196555 Adam West biography] at Hollywood.com.] and "The Drew Carey Show" [ [http://www.tv.com/the-drew-carey-show/hotel-drew/episode/100679/summary.html Hotel Drew] episode summary at TV.com.] . 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. [ [http://www.tvguide.com/detail/celebrity.aspx?tvobjectid=195086&more=ucCelebInfo Conan O'Brien bio] at TVGuide.com.] It was later broadcast on the Trio channel, under the "Brilliant But Cancelled" imprint. [Wilonsky, Robert. " [http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2002-12-12/culture/end-of-the-road/full End of the Road] ", the Miami New Times, published December 12, 2002, accessed May 30, 2007.]

Noticeably, he played a washed up superhero in the "Goosebumps" television series episode "Attack of the Mutant." The boy hero is a comic book geek whose favorite superhero, Galloping Gazelle (West's character), is portrayed as fading and on the verge of retirement. Towards the end, the boy is shocked to learn that the Gazelle is real, though he must save the day by himself.

In 1994, West, with Jeff Rovin, wrote his autobiography, "Back to the Batcave" published by Berkeley Books (ISBN 0-425-14370-8). He also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode titled "Batmantis," where he displayed his book.

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

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

In 2007, Adam West portrayed a defense attorney for Benny on the show "George Lopez".

Following the release of a Batman game, a host of the show "X-Play" visited Adam West on the show.

Voice-over work

West built a career doing voice-over work on a number of animated series (often as himself), including appearances on "The Simpsons", "The Critic", "The Boondocks", "Histeria!", "Adventures of Pete and Pete", "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. A later appearance of Adam West in "The Fairly OddParents" world was a parody of himself, hired to play the role of the Crimson Chin in the movie of the same name. West also voiced many characters related to his famous Batman character, as mentioned above in the typecasting section.

Since 2000, West had 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. [See main article at Adam West (Family Guy)] He also voiced over as a man in an office with Ted Turner on "Robot Chicken"'s spoof of "Captain Planet". His latest voice-over performance was playing the role of Uncle Art in the Disney film "Meet the Robinsons".

West also played the voice of "General Carrington" in the video game "XIII", and has voiced other video games like "", "Chicken Little: Ace in Action" and " Scooby Doo! Unmasked".

Filmography

*"Voodoo Island" (1957)
*"Ghost of the China Sea" (1958)
*"The Young Philadelphians" (1959)
*"The FBI Story" (1959)
*"Geronimo" (1962)
*"Tammy and the Doctor" (1963)
*"Soldier in the Rain" (1963)
*"Robinson Crusoe on Mars" (1964)
*"The Outlaws Is Coming" (1965)
*"Mara of the Wilderness" (1965)
*"The Relentless Four" (1965)
*"Batman" (1966)
*"The Girl Who Knew Too Much" (1969)
*"Hollywood Blue" (1970) (documentary)
*"The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker" (1971)
*"Curse of the Moon Child" (1972)
*"Partizani" (1974)
*"The Specialist" (1975)
*"Hardcore" (1977)
*"Hooper" (1978)
*"The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood" (1980)
*"One Dark Night" (1983)
*"Hell Riders" (1984)
*"Young Lady Chatterley II" (1985)
*"Zombie Nightmare" (1986)
*"Night of the Kickfighters" (1988)
*"Doin' Time on Planet Earth" (1988)
*"Yellow Pages" (1988)
*"Return Fire" (1988)
*"Omega Cop" (1990)
*"Mad About You" (1990)
*"Maxim Xul" (1991)
*"The Best Movie Ever Made" (1994)
*"The New Age" (1994)
*"Not This Part of the World" (1994)
*"Run for Cover" (1995)
*"The Clinic" (1995)
*"The Size of Watermelons" (1996)
*"Joyride" (1996)
*"An American Vampire Story" (1997)
*"Drop Dead Gorgeous" (1999)
*"Séance" (2001)
*"The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy" additional voices (2001 TV series)
*"Nuclear Rescue 911" (2001)
*"From Heaven to Hell" (2002)
*"BAADASSSSS!" (2003)
*"Tales from Beyond" (2004)
*"" (2005) (direct-to-DVD) (voice)
*"Aloha, Scooby-Doo!" (2005) (direct-to-DVD) (voice)
*"Buckaroo: The Movie" (2005)
*"Chicken Little" (2005) (voice)
*"Angels with Angles" (2005)
*"Sexina: Popstar P.I." (2006)
*"Meet the Robinsons" (2007) (voice)
*"Ratko: The Dictator's Son" (2007) (voice)Short Subjects:
*"Ride for Your Life" (1995)
*"Redux Riding Hood" (1997) (voice)
*"" (2005) (voice)

Television work

*"The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor" (cast member from 1961-1962)
*"Batman" (1966-1968)
*"Alexander the Great" (1968) (unsold pilot)
*"The Eyes of Charles Sand" (1972)
*"Poor Devil" (1973)
*"Shazam!" (cast member from 1974-1975) (voice)
*"Nevada Smith" (1975)
*"The New Adventures of Batman" (1977-1978) (voice)
*"Tarzan and the Super 7" (1978-1980) (voice)
*"Legends of the Superheroes" (1979)
*"For the Love of It" (1980)
*"Warp Speed" (1981)
*"Time Warp" (1981)
*"I Take These Men" (1983)
*"Ace Diamond Private Eye" (1983) (unsold pilot)
*"" (1984-1985) (voice)
*"" (1985-1986) (voice)
*"The Last Precinct" (1986) (canceled after 7 episodes)
*"Lookwell" (1991) (unsold pilot)
*"1775" (1992) (unsold pilot)
*"" (1992) (cameo appearance in Episode 18) (voice)
*"The Ben Stiller Show" (1992) Guest star along with Colin Quinn.
*"Danger Theatre" (1993)
*"The Simpsons" (1994) (voice)
*"The Adventures of Pete & Pete" (1993-1996)
*"Johnny Bravo" (1997)
*"The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs" (1998-1999) (voice)
*"Histeria!" (1999) (voice)
*"The Fairly OddParents" recurring cast member (voice)
*"Family Guy" (recurring cast member from 2000 - present) (voice)
*"" (2003)
*"Kim Possible" (2003) (episode The Fearless Ferrett) (voice)
*"Monster Island" (2004)
*"Celebrity Deathmatch" (1998-2001) (2005-2006) (Himself)
*"George Lopez (TV series)" (2007) Benita Lopez' Attorney
*"The Boondocks" (2006) R. Kelly's Lawyer

Footnotes

Other sources

*
* Press kit notes for "The Girl Who Knew Too Much"

External links

* [http://www.AdamWest.com Adam West Official Website]
*imdb name|id=0001842|name=Adam West

*tvtome person|id=3467|name=Adam West
* [http://www.bat-mania.co.uk/hereos/batman.htm Adam West as Batman]

Persondata
NAME=West, Adam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=William West Anderson (birth name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Usian actor
DATE OF BIRTH=September 19, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH=Walla Walla, Washington, USA
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=