Unlike a number of my friends I’ve never really been a fan
of comics (apart from The Beano), superheroes and the like. I’ve never been a
Doctor Who fan either, but I’ve always thought of Jon Pertwee as my Doctor Who. But I was saddened by the news this week
that Adam West had passed away at the age of 88 after a short battle with leukaemia,
because Adam West was my Batman.
I though he was great. Funny, intelligent and aware enough to poke fun at
himself – I’ve always thought of Adam West and William Shatner as cut from the
same cloth.
West was born on September 19, 1928, in Walla Walla,
Washington. After university and a stint in the army he began acting, landing a
few non-starring roles in various TV dramas (including episodes of The Outer
Limits and Laramie) West was cast by producer William Dozier as Bruce
Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, in the wonderfully kitsch and campy Batman series. Dozier had been impressed by the actor after
seeing him perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé
Quik commercial.
The show ran from 1966 to 1968 but has remained in
syndication ever since. A feature-length film version directed by Leslie H.
Martinson was released in 1966. Two years after Batman was canned, West was offered the role of Bond by
producer Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli for the film Diamonds Are Forever, although he turned the role down because he felt
that Bond should always be played by a British actor. More recently he appeared
in The , the Big Bang Theory
and had a recurring role as the voice of the mayor in Family Guy.
The man was an icon… and there are very few true icons left.
Screw your Clooney, Bale, Keaton, Affleck and Kilmer Batmen, for me there was
only ever one caped crusader, and the world is a little poorer now he has gone.
Here are both sides of Adam’s rocking horse-shit rare 45 Miranda, which features an uncredited appearance from his on-screen sidekick Burt Ward, backed with You Only See Her, plus, for fun, the a-side of the 1966 Mike and Bernie
Winter’s 45 I Like Batman.
Enjoy!
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