Adam West dies
Hollywood actor, Adam West, popular for playing Batman in the 1960s TV series, has passed on at the age of 88.He died in Los Angeles on Friday night following a short battle with leukemia.
His family later paid tribute to him in a statement, saying, “Our dad always saw himself as The Bright Knight, and aspired to make a positive impact on his fans’ lives.
“He was and always will be our hero.”
While in Hawaii, West was picked for a role as the sidekick on a children’s show called El Kini Popo Show, which featured a chimp. West later took over as star of the show.[citation needed] In 1959, West moved with his wife and two children to Hollywood, where he took the stage name Adam West. In his autobiography Back to the Batcave, he explains he chose “Adam” simply because he liked the way it looked and sounded with “West”, his middle name.
He appeared in the film The Young Philadelphians which starred Paul Newman He had guest-star roles in a number of television Westerns. On three Warner Bros. westerns which aired on ABC—Sugarfoot, Colt .45, and Lawman—West played the role of Doc Holliday, the frontier dentist and gunfighter. He portrayed Wild Bill Hickok in the episode “Westbound Stage” of the 1960 NBC Western series Overland Trail, with William Bendix and Doug McClure.
He guest-starred on Edmond O’Brien’s syndicated crime drama Johnny Midnight, and soon snagged a supporting role as police sergeant Steve Nelson in the crime drama, The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. He appeared once on Walter Brennan’s sitcom, The Real McCoys.
On January 10, 1961, West appeared as a young, ambitious deputy who foolishly confronts a gunfighter named Clay Jackson, portrayed by Jock Mahoney, in the episode “The Man from Kansas” of the NBC Western series Laramie.
West made two guest appearances on Perry Mason in 1961 and 1962. His first role was as small-town journalist Dan Southern in “The Case of the Barefaced Witness”. His other role was as folk singer Pete Norland in “The Case of the Bogus Books”.
