Like the rest of pop culture world, I was saddened to hear of Adam West's passing, at age 88, yesterday.
There are hundreds of Batman-related posts on this blog, and most of them feature West and the rest of the 1966 "Batman" TV cast. This was my show as a little kid. I suspect the same is true for many regular visitors here.
I interviewed West briefly back in the early 1990s during my days as a newspaper reporter and found him hilarious, friendly and charming.
I couldn't help being a little nervous and gushing when I met him - this was my childhood idol, after all. When I told him I was a lifelong Batfan, he said "I could tell that about you, John." I suspect he'd said the same to many reporters of a certain age.
West was a class act and after some years of frustration over being typecast as the Caped Crusader, seemed to accept his fate with grace and good humor. I was a fan of his frequently hilarious Facebook page, where he posted pictures of "Moose Wayne," a wild visitor to his backyard in Idaho and a fantastic video of him playing Wii boxing with one of his grandchildren. The only thing missing was the Bat-music and "Zap!" and "Pow!" sound effects on the screen. Over at BoingBoing, there's a great post about a brilliant Bat-prank he played in his local telephone book.
Goodbye, sadly, to another part of our childhood.
There are hundreds of Batman-related posts on this blog, and most of them feature West and the rest of the 1966 "Batman" TV cast. This was my show as a little kid. I suspect the same is true for many regular visitors here.
I interviewed West briefly back in the early 1990s during my days as a newspaper reporter and found him hilarious, friendly and charming.
I couldn't help being a little nervous and gushing when I met him - this was my childhood idol, after all. When I told him I was a lifelong Batfan, he said "I could tell that about you, John." I suspect he'd said the same to many reporters of a certain age.
West was a class act and after some years of frustration over being typecast as the Caped Crusader, seemed to accept his fate with grace and good humor. I was a fan of his frequently hilarious Facebook page, where he posted pictures of "Moose Wayne," a wild visitor to his backyard in Idaho and a fantastic video of him playing Wii boxing with one of his grandchildren. The only thing missing was the Bat-music and "Zap!" and "Pow!" sound effects on the screen. Over at BoingBoing, there's a great post about a brilliant Bat-prank he played in his local telephone book.
Goodbye, sadly, to another part of our childhood.
I'm glad you got to meet him, and that he was eventually happy with his lot. He was an essential part of childhood to people of a certain age.
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