Looking at the career of Adam West
Adam West’s career is inextricably tied with Batman’s. Before the cult classic Batman series of the 1960s, Batman was an underground character, who Julius Schwartz was attempting to return to his dark roots. However, West’s campy portrayal became a television phenomenon and raised sales across the comic industry. The Batman title itself reached a circulation of almost 900,000 copies.But just who is the man known as Adam West? Adam West was actually a stage name. His real name was William West Anderson, and he was born in Seattle, Washington in 1928. His first acting role was on a Hawaiian children’s show called El Kini Popo Show. After moving to Hollywood in 1959, Anderson took the stage name Adam West and started appearing in films and television westerns. He was in The Young Philadelphians (1959) with Paul Newman and The Outlaws Is Coming with the Three Stooges, among others.West snagged the role as Batman after the show’s producer saw him play a spy in a Nestle Quik television commercial. West’s iconic good looks and heavy-handed speaking style brought the show unparalleled success, and viewers regularly tuned in twice a week to catch the latest half hour episode. Burt Ward co-starred with West as the young sidekick Robin, and many episodes featured popular celebrities from the time, from Cesar Romero as the Joker to singer Lesley Gore as Pussycat, an apprentice of Catwoman.Little did West know, though, that the success of the Batman series would follow him for the rest of his life. After the show, he found that he couldn’t break away from his Batman image, even when he took gritty roles like Johnny Cain in the 1969 film The Girl Who Knew Too Much. Ultimately, West gave in and started doing personal appearances as Batman for pay, while taking small roles in films and television shows.During the 1970s and 1980s, West began doing voice-acting as Batman for several animated series, including The New Adventures of Batman, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. He also appeared in the live-action specials Legends of the Superheroes in 1979.While West has appeared in most major animated Batman adaptations since then, he changed his career focus to parodying his own washed-up image and playing eccentric bit roles in popular shows. For instance, he played a superhero past his prime in the Goosebumps episode “Attack of the Mutant” and played himself on an episode of The King of Queens. He has also appeared on The Fairly Oddparents, SpongeBob SquarePants, and as an eccentric parody of himself on Family Guy.West seems to have accepted the fact that he will never be rid of his Batman persona, for better or worse. For that, and for his many roles of the year, we offer him the utmost respect.