Adam West was born on 19 September in 1928. He died back in 2017 at the age of 88.
People know West almost exclusively for the 1960s Batman show. People still thought of that character when they saw him doing guest appearances on TV or hearing his voice as the mayor on Family Guy. But he did have an impressive career outside of the show.
He played small guest roles on various TV shows during the late 1950s and early 1960s. This led to a regular part on The Detectives in its third season. His career continued on after that as it had. And then came Batman.
William Dozier was the creator of the series. He wanted to make a feature film to generate interest in the show. That was not unheard of in those days. But he didn’t get his wish. Rather, during the first run of the first season, the film was shot. It was released shortly after the end of the first season.
When I was a kid, I watched Batman every day after school. But I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I thought it was pretty silly. It was only as an adult that the silliness became a positive. What’s more, as superhero films and TV have become so big, I see Batman as a kind of eternal critique of the genre:
Superheroes are fundamentally silly and trying to make them serious makes them stupid.
Unfortunately, I don’t find free copies of the Batman TV series sitting around on the net. So let’s celebrate Adam West’s birthday by watching the 1966 movie, Batman. It’s a lot of fun!
Want to see Adam West as a bad guy? Check him out in Zombie Nightmare!
Other 19 September Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- William Hickey (1927-1997): Character actor known for Puppet Master, Mouse Hunt, and much more.
- Antonio Margheriti (1930-2002): Italian director of classics like Castle of Blood and The Long Hair of Death.
- David McCallum (1933-2023): Actor known for One Spy Too Many and The Haunting of Morella.
- David Hess (1936-2011): Actor known for The Last House on the Left, Hitch-Hike, and more.
- Paul Williams (1940-): Songwriter who turned to acting in the 1970s — most notably in Phantom of the Paradise (which he also wrote the score for).
- Jeremy Irons (1948-): Actor known for his serious but varied career but we know him best for Dead Ringers.
- Kim Richards (1964-): Actor known for Nanny and the Professor and Escape to Witch Mountain.
- Kevin Zegers (1984-): Actor known for Air Bud, Frozen (the ski lift one, not the Disney one), and more.
- Danielle Panabaker (1987-): Actor in The Ward, Time Lapse, and more.
- Katrina Bowden (1988-): Mainstream actor who has also appeared in a lot of interesting stuff like Tucker & Dale vs Evil and Piranha 3DD.
Films
- Satan’s School for Girls (1973): A woman investigates her sisters death at a boarding school, only to find a Satanic cult.
- Without Warning (1980): Teens go camping not knowing that space aliens are using it for a hunting ground.
- Blue Velvet (1986): A young man finds a severed ear and it leads him to the dark underbelly of his small town.
- LA Confidential (1997): LAPD cops separately find that the department is corrupt and do something about it. Also: they are all horrible themselves.
- Wishmaster (1997): A djinn tries to release all the djinns in the world.
- Demon Hunters (1999): Micro-budget horror-comedy about a student must get help to save his college from a demon.
- Bubba Ho-Tep (2003): For reasons that are made clear in the film, Elvis finds himself in an old folks’ home that is being preyed upon by a mummy.
- Underworld (2003): A vampire warrior is caught between the vampires and the werewolves.
- Dead In The Water (2006): Sisters go to a remote cabin to visit their parents but find it empty. They and their boyfriends are stranded there and something is coming for them.
- Open Graves (2009): Surfers play an evil board game.
- The Maze Runner (2014): Teens live in a maze world with monsters.
- Tusk (2014): A man is kidnapped and turned into a walrus.
- Bride of the Werewolf (2019): Two women are attacked by a werewolf and take refuge in the home of a different werewofl.
Image cropped from Adam West at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con by ovoviviparous under CC BY-SA 2.0.