Adam West has passed away at the age of 88 after a short battle with leukemia…
Adam West — best known for his iconic role as Batman on the 1960’s television show — has passed away at age 88 after a short battle with leukemia.
“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,” his family said in a statement.
West joined ‘Batman’ in 1966 to play the Caped Crusader in the series on ABC that ran for three seasons where he starred alongside Burt Ward as the dynamic duo fighting crime in Gotham City.
West also starred in the 1966 ‘Batman’ movie, which remains a staple of pop culture history to this day as he led a fraternity of actors who would go onto play the part including Michael Keaton, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck.
West actually struggled to find work after doing ‘Batman’ because producers couldn’t see past his time under that cape and cowl, but over the years he learned to embrace his history while playing the famous hero while making appearances at comic book conventions all over the world.
“I decided early on to embrace the character,” West said. “I mean how many actors are lucky enough to play a character that becomes iconic?”
In later years, West re-emerged as a voice actor including his famous role playing the mayor of Quahog on the Seth McFarlane series ‘Family Guy’.
Almost exactly 50 years later from the launch of the ‘Batman’ live action series, West returned to the role while voicing the character in a DC animated film titled ‘Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders’ and he had also signed on for the sequel that is still currently in post production.
