The RIP Thread

[drchin]

missed posting this over the weekend with all the imgbox nonsense . . .

West died Friday night after "a short but brave battle with leukemia," his publicist, Molly Schoneveld, said Saturday in a statement. He was 88.

Born William West Anderson in Walla Walla, Washington, he moved to Seattle at age 15 with his mother after his parents divorced. He graduated from Whitman College, a liberal arts school, in Walla Walla.

After serving in the Army, he went to Hollywood, changed his name to Adam West and began appearing on a number of shows, including “Bonanza,” ”Perry Mason” and “Bewitched.”

He was married three times and had six children. West had homes in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California, but he and his wife, Marcelle, spent most of their time at their ranch near Sun Valley, Idaho.

Of course, it was his role as Batman in the 60's series that made him famous and then typecast to the point of being unable to find work. I love that he came to terms with that, and that Hollywood and the industry came to love him for it as well. I saw a fun little documentary on West recently on cable, and he seemed to be enjoying his life as a parody of himself and that character.

Kind of fun to see guys like Affleck and Kilmer and others giving tributes on Twitter for him.