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News came in that he has passed. He was 88.

RIP, 'ol chum.  :(

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/adam-west-dead-batman-star-832264 (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/adam-west-dead-batman-star-832264)

That's horrible news.

But still, I'd like to think he finally achieved the recognition he deserved later in life. Too late, arguably. But he still got it in the end.

RIP, Adam.

R.I.P.  :(

Irrespective of the campy nature of the 60s TV show and film, Adam West is still, for me, the closest any actor has got to physically embodying Batman/Bruce Wayne in live-action (Ben Affleck is, at present, an honourable second place), and he will always be a crucial part of the character's popularisation and legacy.  He has long been a wonderful ambassador for Batman, and was, by all accounts, a great and humble guy.

RIP.

First Peter Sallis and now this. What a week.  :(

Farewell to my favourite live action Batman. This marks the end of a very, very, very long and special era, the likes of which we'll never see again. At least we've got Batman vs. Two-Face to look forward to as his final send-off. After that, the sixties Batman will finally be laid to rest.

Quote from: johnnygobbs on Sat, 10 Jun  2017, 16:31
Irrespective of the campy nature of the 60s TV show and film, Adam West is still, for me, the closest any actor has got to physically embodying Batman/Bruce Wayne in live-action (Ben Affleck is, at present, an honourable second place), and he will always be a crucial part of the character's popularisation and legacy. 

Seconded.

Sad to hear that Adam West has now gone to the great Batcave in the sky.

RIP

:(

R.I.P.

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His Batman co-stars has reacted to his death:

Burt Ward aka Robin:

Quote"I am devastated at the loss of one my very dearest friends," Ward said in a statement. "Adam and I had a special friendship for more than 50 years. We shared some of the most fun times of our lives together. Our families have deep love and respect for each other. This is a terribly unexpected loss of my lifelong friend. I will forever miss him. There are several fine actors who have portrayed Batman in films. In my eyes, there was only one real Batman that is and always will be Adam West. He was truly the Bright Night."

and

Julie Newmar aka Catwoman

Quote"Stellar, exemplar, a king to the end," Newmar said. "He was bright, witty and fun to work with. I will miss him in the physical world and savor him always in the world of imagination and creativity. He meant so much to people. A friend said: 'The father that we wanted.' That is a great gift, no matter how you live it."

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/adam...er-1202461567/

R.I.P.   :(

Sad news. Adam West and the rest of the 60s TV show was my first exposure to Batman, before Tim Burton's first film. I wasn't aware about the TV show's legacy had this stigma for its camp until years later, and I never understood the hate by some fanboys because it was made for that period of time. Well, thankfully the show, and West's portrayal, regained some respect awhile ago. After all, we might have our favourites for live actions portrayals, but nobody can dispute that when it comes to the detective part, West's version was second to none.

Here are Ben Affleck, Kevin Conroy, and Mark Hamill paying their respects, at the time of writing:

Quote from: Ben Affleck
Adam West exemplified heroism.  Kind, funny and an all around great guy.  Thank you for showing us all how it's done. @therealadamwest

https://twitter.com/BenAffleck/status/873639055971328000

Quote from: Kevin Conroy
Adam West has passed. The Batman of my childhood. He brought us so much entertainment and was a truly class act. We'll miss u Adam

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DB-nUUzVoAAGaxZ.jpg)

Goodbye my friend

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DB-vTz5VYAASlNL.jpg)

https://twitter.com/RealKevinConroy/status/873600825959960576
https://twitter.com/RealKevinConroy/status/873609611361767425

Quote from: Mark Hamill
#AdamWest was such a wonderful actor & so kind, I'm so lucky to have worked w/ him & tell him how much he meant to me & millions of fans.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DB-XIAJXoAA3-_6.jpg)

https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/873583622548332544

Quote from: Travesty on Sat, 10 Jun  2017, 15:36
RIP, 'ol chum.  :(

^This 100x. :(

With the passing of Roger Moore and now Adam West, it's been a bad year for lovers of escapist entertainment. It's so weird to hear this news because with Roger dying recently it made me think of Adam. And here we are. I was playing the Batman66 level of Lego Batman 3 only two days ago as well.

Adam was not just a fantastic Batman, he seemed to be a truly fantastic human being. He embraced Batman as he got older and didn't shun it. I really respect that. The silver lining to this news is the fact he lived long enough to see the TV show get officially released. He saw the second coming of the 66 brand with comics, new animated movies, books and various other merchandise.

RIP to one of the greats.

There are no words. This ripped my heart out.

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A lot's been said over the years about West's Batman being the best dancer, but now I'd like to make a case for him being the best singer too. The only other Batman I remember singing was Conroy's in the Justice League Unlimited episode 'This Little Piggy'. And while Conroy was good, I don't think he had quite the same musical panache as West.


Modern crime fighters might neglect this aspect of their training, but when your gallery of rogues includes the likes of Minstrel, Siren and Chandell, a strong understanding of music and sound is essential. How else would one escape from a situation like this?

I remember one night, maybe 9-10 years ago, I was sleepless and, to put it mildly, one of the worst nights I ever had.

The TV was on, while switching channels I happened upon "Return to the Batcave"... Saying Adam West and Burt Ward felt like a visit from old friends would be an understatement.

It doesn't matter that this version of Batman has never been a favourite of mine, that's beside the point. That night Adam West "saved" me and no doubt he has saved many others, without ever meeting them, in different ways.

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No other Batman actor has devoted such a large chunk of their life to the Batman brand.

He filmed 120 episodes along with a feature film. The cameras stopped rolling in 1968 and for 49 years Adam could not escape the show. It was simply way too iconic to forget. Much like Batman (1989), it was the right thing at the right time. Adam realized he was forever going to be associated with Batman and he made peace with it. Your likeness preserved for eternity as one of the most iconic characters of all time isn't a bad footnote. I'd take that.

In terms of Batman's sense of adventure and fun, nobody did it better than Adam West and nobody else will.

I'm glad he held out as long as he did. We're finally at a point where it seems most of the Bat-universe is finally giving that series the respect it deserves. Even those who hate the camp realize that the character would not be nearly as popular without the West series.

I did get to meet Adam shortly in 2014 for a photo op with Burt Ward. Glad I did.

Quote from: riddler on Fri, 16 Jun  2017, 04:24
I'm glad he held out as long as he did. We're finally at a point where it seems most of the Bat-universe is finally giving that series the respect it deserves. Even those who hate the camp realize that the character would not be nearly as popular without the West series.

I did get to meet Adam shortly in 2014 for a photo op with Burt Ward. Glad I did.

That's awesome.  They look friendly.  How was your brief encounter with the Caped Crusaders?

Very good news about the Two-Face animated movie. It's confirmed that West completed his dialogue.

Quote from: riddler on Fri, 16 Jun  2017, 04:24
I'm glad he held out as long as he did. We're finally at a point where it seems most of the Bat-universe is finally giving that series the respect it deserves. Even those who hate the camp realize that the character would not be nearly as popular without the West series.

I did get to meet Adam shortly in 2014 for a photo op with Burt Ward. Glad I did.

Great photo, riddler.  8)

Los Angeles City Hall paid tribute to Adam West at night, which featured family members, Burt Ward and Lee Meriweather in front of a large group of fans, before lighting up the Batsignal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzzgD_zAqzc

Reminds me of an indirect homage to The Dark Knight Returns.

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f2/24/35/f22435ae1c3978b291f806af24789564.jpg)

Quote from: johnnygobbs on Fri, 16 Jun  2017, 20:18

Quote from: riddler on Fri, 16 Jun  2017, 04:24
I'm glad he held out as long as he did. We're finally at a point where it seems most of the Bat-universe is finally giving that series the respect it deserves. Even those who hate the camp realize that the character would not be nearly as popular without the West series.

I did get to meet Adam shortly in 2014 for a photo op with Burt Ward. Glad I did.

That's awesome.  They look friendly.  How was your brief encounter with the Caped Crusaders?

I'll apologize in advance because what I'm about to write may not shed our caped crusaders in the best light. I have been in the same room as Adam West and Burt Ward three times

1) their panel in Toronto in 2012 was sadly not well received. The overall consensus is that they were cold, arrogant and distant from the fans and seemed to only talk about things they wanted to discuss. From my personal perspective, the reviews weren't totally off base but I found the arrogance to be more from Burt Ward than West. They were not invited back in 2013.
2) Their panel in Toronto in 2014. I attended this one with the same friend I did two years prior and we noticed a significant improvement. They told interesting stories, gave honest answers to the fan questions they were asked, and West especially showed off his excellent sense of humour. Even Burt Ward had some fun quips. He said for the first season and the movie he had to do most of his own stunts because his stunt man didn't look like him. He said when a stunt would be upcoming, he'd ask where his stuntman was and the typical response would be "he's having coffee with Adam". He stated that  at one point he remarked "this is the fifth time I'm being taken to the hospital this week and it's only Wednesday". The catillac was modified to be more of a stunt car than a safety car so a good portion of his trips were due to the car. Filming the common sequence of the Batmobile speeding out of the batcave and around the corner was a trek because he was often flung from the vehicle. While they do make a point of showing Batman and Robin always buckle up in the Batmobile, the stunt car did not have seatbelts. He also recounted in the movie portion where Robin's side buddy detaches from the Bat-copter landed him in the hospital a few times because once it detached there was nobody driving the buggy so the momentum would be the driver and Ward claims he was driven off the docs into the pier at least twice.
West in 2014 kind of reminded me of a classier version of Hugh Heffner. He could turn on the charm especially to the ladies, Both praise the modern age bat films although sadly both seem to favour the Nolan films to the earlier ones (though they wouldn't say anything bad about the 90's films). I found it interesting that Burt Ward was asked how he felt about the films mostly abandoning the character he popularized. He pointed out that in the dark Gotham cities being portrayed on film, Robin didn't fit the tone as well as  he did in the 60's. He said he did enjoy Chris O'Donnels portrayal
Without sounding rude, Burt Ward looks almost nothing like his younger self from the 60's but his voice was spot on. I have the DVD of the 1966 movie and Burt Ward narrates the menus, I actually thought initially he may have recorded the dialogue in the 60's until I heard him saying things like "holy special features Batman". Honestly he speaks the same way as he did back then. It would be interesting if he voiced Robin again now and I honestly think he still could.
The only negative this time around is that they were late by well over an hour without any explanation or apology but they were worth the wait
3) the photo op in the same day in 2014. Honestly there isn't much noteworthy. I was dressed up like all four avengers; Cap's mask, Hulks hand, Thor's hammer, and Iron Man's arc reactor. It might have been because they were so far behind schedule but the photo ops were rushed. You got to stand there, do your pose and then move on. They were polite, said their hello's, please's and thank yous but it wasn't nearly as interactive as some other celebrities I've met for photo ops. Guys like Stan Lee, Christopher Lloyd, and Ben MacKenzie got involve with their poses. For instance I went down on one knee to marvel Stan Lee, had one photo op with Lloyd where I stared at my watch and he did as well and a second one in which we were shaking hands. I met Mackenzie dressed up like the riddler and he was more than happy to grab my collar with one hand and raise his other fist towards me in a threatening manner. Even though the Batmobile was present, West and Ward weren't much more interactive beyond smiling.

On a side note in 2016 I dressed up as the riddler for the first time (Paul has seen the pictures of this on my facebook) and got to have 5-10 minutes with the Batmobile with a charitable donation. I could definitely see what Burt Ward was talking about, from the inside it was definitely resembling a stunt car, it was very closed in with many small obstacles including the Bat phone and the doors opened extremely easily especially the passenger door. This vehicle couldn't possibly be legal or safe to drive on the road. No wonder Burt Ward got injured so many times in this thing. And yes I can confirm the Bat phone is still in it!

Thanks for that insight riddler. I don't see your comments as disrespectful to West's memory because it either happened or it didn't. Everyone has bad days because we're human. I'm particularly understanding with someone like Adam West given he lived with this show and the same old questions surrounding it for so long. I wouldn't be always upbeat about it either. What I love about Batman is how Adam West could easily be my favorite Batman, just as Michael Keaton or Ben Affleck could be. They're all great. It just depends on my mood at the time.

One of my favorite scenes with West is actually his last scene with Newmar's Catwoman.

You can see it from 0.53 until the end of the clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWkbJ__U19U

It's amazing because we see Bruce's emotions on display. You can see he's visibly upset about how everything turned out between them, and still holds out hope for her rehabilitation. He puts it all on the line to say "I'd like to be your friend", only to be rebuffed with "you're nice, but my heart belongs to Batman." With that dialogue, the bittersweet music and the closeup of West's upset face, there's something rather poignant about it all.

Quote from: The Dark Knight on Thu, 22 Jun  2017, 08:39
Thanks for that insight riddler. I don't see your comments as disrespectful to West's memory because it either happened or it didn't. Everyone has bad days because we're human. I'm particularly understanding with someone like Adam West given he lived with this show and the same old questions surrounding it for so long. I wouldn't be always upbeat about it either. What I love about Batman is how Adam West could easily be my favorite Batman, just as Michael Keaton or Ben Affleck could be. They're all great. It just depends on my mood at the time.

One of my favorite scenes with West is actually his last scene with Newmar's Catwoman.

You can see it from 0.53 until the end of the clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWkbJ__U19U

It's amazing because we see Bruce's emotions on display. You can see he's visibly upset about how everything turned out between them, and still holds out hope for her rehabilitation. He puts it all on the line to say "I'd like to be your friend", only to be rebuffed with "you're nice, but my heart belongs to Batman." With that dialogue, the bittersweet music and the closeup of West's upset face, there's something rather poignant about it all.

It should be noted that West has stated several times his favourite villain was Catwoman but he couldn't choose whether he preferred Merriewether or Newmar.

Burt Ward believes Adam West had no idea he was going to die so soon.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/06/22/batmans-burt-ward-believes-adam-west-had-no-idea-was-going-to-die-was-making-plans-for-future.html
After reading this article, I agree with him.

Quote from: riddler on Fri, 23 Jun  2017, 08:33
It should be noted that West has stated several times his favourite villain was Catwoman but he couldn't choose whether he preferred Merriewether or Newmar.

I struggle choosing between them myself. They were both awesome. I've had a special bias towards Meriwether ever since she retweeted a link to my Batman: The Movie comic analysis back in 2011. But bias aside, I thought she was a legitimately great Catwoman in the 1966 film. And she was the first actress to portray the character's alter ego in a romantic relationship with Bruce Wayne.

For me, it's pretty much a tie between Newmar, Meriwether and Pfeiffer.

The first thing I ever saw from the B66 universe was the movie. And so I saw Meriwether first. I thought she was great, and she remains great. However after seeing the TV series I ended up preferring Newmar. I liked how her Catwoman was more of a villain, but still had charm and beauty in doses. Deep down she loved Batman, but she just couldn't give up her bad ways, and couldn't imagine sharing Batman with Robin.

Apart from the fact that Newmar was banging hot, I love her voice as Catwoman. A lot of actresses (Pfieffer, Barbeau and probably others) did a sultry, throaty, phone sex type of voice for their Catwomen.

Newmar had... I don't even know what. Not a sing-songy voice exactly. But her pitch suggested a woman perfectly comfortable in her own skin. She's everything she's ever wanted to be, right now. She can't commit to being a good guy. But she's not all bad either. Burton would play that to the nines in BR but the suggestion of it was exemplified with Newmar.

As to being banging hot... I first laid eyes on Newmar's Catwoman when I was eight years old. Not to gross anybody out but when I was eight years old, I was attracted to eight year old girls. Julie Newmar was the first time I ever saw a grown up woman and thought she was banging hot. Even though she was at least three times my age... oh boy!

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that I wasn't the first or the last boy whom Newmar turned into a man.

Newmar was definitely a knock-out!

MEANWHILE, AT THE STATELY WAYNE MANOR, WHERE WE FIND MILLIONAIRE BRUCE WAYNE ---

Reliving this series again for the first time since I was a kid (outside of the 1966 movie, of course, I am finding West's performance to be almost genius in terms of the material. He has the perfect tone for the campiness, not overly winking at the audience, but just the right amount of smirk. The humor of the series is great too. There were times I found myself in stitches.

Quote from: GoNerdYourself on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 02:14
Reliving this series again for the first time since I was a kid (outside of the 1966 movie, of course, I am finding West's performance to be almost genius in terms of the material. He has the perfect tone for the campiness, not overly winking at the audience, but just the right amount of smirk. The humor of the series is great too. There were times I found myself in stitches.

West is awesome as Batman because he played the absurd situations seriously. He had a real sincerity that I connect with, be it his relationship with Robin, Alfred, Gordon or just his desire to be a good man.

But away from the camera, I was recently reflecting how Adam is something of a tragic figure. Think about it. Years after the show ended he was still dressing up in the costume and making appearances at various events as an older man. I don't think he did this out of desire...but for the simple fact it was his career now. He became a performing flea trapped in a prison of sorts. Kinda sad when you think about it.

Quote from: The Dark Knight on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 03:19West is awesome as Batman because he played the absurd situations seriously.

Hmm. Is that the secret to his success, you think? He played the absurd scenes seriously and the serious scenes... well, not absurd but "lightly"?

Either way, so much of his performance comes down to his voice. He's a very dramatic actor and has one of the best voices in all of Hollywood, if you ask me.

There's an alternate universe out there somewhere and there Adam West was one of the big movie stars of his day. I love his Batman... but sometimes I wonder where his career might've gone if he hadn't had to deal with typecasting.

Quote from: The Dark Knight on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 03:19

Quote from: GoNerdYourself on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 02:14
Reliving this series again for the first time since I was a kid (outside of the 1966 movie, of course, I am finding West's performance to be almost genius in terms of the material. He has the perfect tone for the campiness, not overly winking at the audience, but just the right amount of smirk. The humor of the series is great too. There were times I found myself in stitches.

West is awesome as Batman because he played the absurd situations seriously. He had a real sincerity that I connect with, be it his relationship with Robin, Alfred, Gordon or just his desire to be a good man.

But away from the camera, I was recently reflecting how Adam is something of a tragic figure. Think about it. Years after the show ended he was still dressing up in the costume and making appearances at various events as an older man. I don't think he did this out of desire...but for the simple fact it was his career now. He became a performing flea trapped in a prison of sorts. Kinda sad when you think about it.

I was watching a couple documentaries on the subject -- Bio's The Inside Story and a 1989 documentary on Batmania -- and I definitely got that sense. He was at one point considered for the role of James Bond. I believe it was after You Only Live Twice and before George Lazenby donned the tux for his one go-around.

Quote from: GoNerdYourself on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 11:07
I was watching a couple documentaries on the subject -- Bio's The Inside Story and a 1989 documentary on Batmania -- and I definitely got that sense.

I watched a documentary on Adam years back, I'm not sure what it was called now, but they explored this in greater detail. Basically, there was a period of time where Adam was depressed for the reasons I described above. But as we know, he came to terms with it.

Quote from: The Dark Knight on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 12:36

Quote from: GoNerdYourself on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 11:07
I was watching a couple documentaries on the subject -- Bio's The Inside Story and a 1989 documentary on Batmania -- and I definitely got that sense.

I watched a documentary on Adam years back, I'm not sure what it was called now, but they explored this in greater detail. Basically, there was a period of time where Adam was depressed for the reasons I described above. But as we know, he came to terms with it.

Could it have been Starring Adam West? I haven't seen that yet.

Yeah, I don't know. This was at least a good ten years ago or more.

In the meantime watch this clip. It's Pure West.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tgCkmUS1IYI

I think the general consensus in the industry is that while West and Ward enjoyed their biggest roles from the series, in a sense it destroyed the remainder of their careers. It's well documented that West had a far better career before the show started than after it ended. I have seen one of Burt Ward's auditions in which he did a bunch of stunts (he studied martial arts prior) and he was so good I think he could have had a fantastic career as a stunt man. Hearing him tell the stories of the stunts and injuries he suffered from the show, I believed him. We will never know how their careers would have gone had they not done Batman but I think we can all agree that they both got pigeon holed in those roles.

I think it's tough to compare the first two catwomen, even though the movie was faithful to the source material, it was quite different. The format of course was far different between a feature length film and the traditional hour long episodes broken into two with a cliffhanger. We definitely saw West take on more emotional tragedy, it was confirmed in this series that just like any incarnation of Bruce Wayne, his parents were murdered by criminals but this is rarely discussed during the series. Batman and Catwoman falling in love outside of their masks was handles extremely well and there was a lot of chemistry between the two. I know we got a happy ending for the most part but the tragedy is that Bruce Wayne fell in love with a villain who was playing him and his heart was broken once he found out her true identity. Having four villains added an interesting dynamic because they all developed relationships with each other and all added their own personal signatures to the plot of the film. The show did pair up villains but never more than two. I think the Avengers may have taken cues from the handling the villains and ensured each of the main 4 developed unique relationships with each other. I think the change in actress helped Catwoman stand out because she was easily the most surprising villain in the sense that we saw her do things she wouldn't normally do; she uses mind control and different methods throughout the series to get Batman under her figure but in this film she just uses plain old deduction. I don't recall see Bruce Wayne fighting too often in the series but he did here. The movie featured far more Bruce Wayne than any other episode although it should be noted that was a condition of West to get him to do the film in the first place. 


Even though the general consensus is that Eartha Kitt was the 3rd best, she deserves a fair amount of respect. Those were tough acts to follow

Quote from: thecolorsblend on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 04:30

Quote from: The Dark Knight on Tue, 27 Jun  2017, 03:19West is awesome as Batman because he played the absurd situations seriously.

Hmm. Is that the secret to his success, you think? He played the absurd scenes seriously and the serious scenes... well, not absurd but "lightly"?

I think so. Take the 'Bruce Wayne/Batman has a conversation with himself' video I posted above. I imagine that scene took several takes due to them all laughing. The B66 show presented a world where Batman and Bruce Wayne were thought of by the police and society as good people. They simply were not doubted or analyzed in a suspicious or criminal way. Same thing with Batman appearing in the suit in public places. It's just what he did, and he and others considered it completely normal. The 66 show attempted to normalize the outlandish by playing a straight bat (haha). The success of West in my eyes comes from this because it's both sincere and hilarious at the same time.

Hard to believe it's been two years already.

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