Everything about Adam West totally explained
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For the Family Guy
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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). He is also well known for his current role as the delusional
Mayor Adam West on the show
Family Guy.
Biography
Adam West was born in
Walla Walla,
Washington to Otto West Anderson and Audrey V. Speer. 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 College in Walla Walla.
Acting career
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.
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 made a brief appearance on the
1964 film
Robinson Crusoe on Mars.
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.
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.
West enjoys the status of being almost a majority of the three big B's of the
1960s: Bond, Batman, and
The Beatles. The popular,
campy show ran on
ABC from
1966 to
1968; a
film version was released in
1966.
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). (Ironically, "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,
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 played the voice of Batman, 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. and
The Drew Carey Show. 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 wasn't picked up as a series. It was later broadcast on the
Trio channel, under the "Brilliant But Cancelled" imprint.
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.
Voice-over work
West has 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!,
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's 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 voices many characters related to his famous Batman character, as mentioned above in the typecasting section.
Since
2000, West has 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. 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
Features:
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)
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)
Monster Island (2004)
Celebrity Deathmatch (1998-2001) (2005-2006) (Himself)
George Lopez (TV series) (2007) Benita Lopez's Attorney
The Boondocks (2006) R. Kelly's Lawyer
Footnotes
Other sources
Press kit notes for The Girl Who Knew Too MuchFurther Information
Get more info on 'Adam West'.
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