Adam West - Batman for all time

1928 - 2017

Although modern demographics may skew Batman's alter-ego identity recognition toward Christian Bale (of the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight films) or Ben Affleck (Batman V Superman), but across the globe and through the last fifty years one person more than any other had been identified with Batman, and that's Adam West.

Though the Batman show only lasted three seasons, it racked up 120 episodes which have been in syndication ever since. Whether as an antidote to the seriousness of the current screen renditions of Batman, or as a test-tube specimen of mid-1960s mod and hip culture (not to mention peeks at the pantheon of movie and TV celebrities which paraded through the series), the Batman TV show appears to be immortal, in television terms, and that longevity is mostly due to West's frank and sincere presentation of the 'freak in tights' (West's term), a character he has said requires an actor to put on the cowl to understand (a costuming chore which West, age 37 when he began, has said made him feel as if he were performing in the heat of 180 degrees).

Adam West Pro-Wrestling Batman Appearance – Screenrant July 2021

West hilariously - and potentially through some level of inebriation - accuses Lawler of colluding with The Penguin and Mr. Freeze to make Tennessee's winter unusually frigid that year, a true crime against humanity if there ever was one. Lawler joining into the conversation only ratchets up the surreal nature of the event, with "The King" coming out in full Superman attire, followed by Batman referring to Superman as his friend "Sup," and even bizarrely invoking Marvel superhero Spider-Man, calling him "Spidey-Baby."

Born William West Anderson, "Adam West" (his stage name) has a long list of movie and TV credits besides Batman. He was born in Walla Walla, Washington State. West died, he was 88, June 9, 2017 in Los Angeles from leukemia.

Adam West 1928 - 2017

Official Adam West Web Site

Adam West Facebook Account

Adam West Twitter Account

Obits

Deadline Hollywood

Hollywood Reporter - Obit

Hollywood Reporter - Fan Reaction

United Press International

ABC News

National Public Radio

US Magazine

Rolling Stone

BBC

Adam West on the cover of TV Guide

Adam West Batman - TV Guide Cover

The release in 2014 of the long-delayed home video of the Batman TV Series

The Home Video Release Adam West Batman TV Show in 2014

Why did it take so long for the Adam West Batman TV show to come to home video?

Batman Adam West the Complete TV Show

I remember seeing In the days of VHS that people paid hundreds of dollars (that's probably the equivalent of $400-$500 in today's value, considering inflation) for taped copies of the "complete" Adam West Batman TV show, recorded off of Canadian TV broadcast channels. Hung up a series of complex rights issues for almost five decades, the show finally made it to "official" home video on November 11, 2014.

The source of the trouble for release was that the show was made by Greenway Productions and 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast by ABC (owned by Disney since 1996), and Batman the character is owned by DC Comics, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. These separate businesses argued over who had the home video distribution rights.

On top of that was the matter of clearing the rights for the guest stars and their estates who appeared on various episodes of the Batman TV Show.

Further, there were rights issues about the music, and other elements of the show, and how to digitally convert the original filmed episodes to a high definition format.

Amazon - Starring Adam West

Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight in Comics, Film, and Beyond - AMAZON