Beyond Batman: how Adam West built a new career by just being himself

Adam West – if not the original Batman, surely one of the superhero’s most memorable incarnations – is now 86. But, just so you know, a fine 86. Calling from his home in Palm Springs, California, he is evidently in a good mood. “Let me go look at this full-length mirror for just a moment,” he jokes. “I look great!”

In the four decades since he starred in the 1960s television series, West has seen the Batman baton passed on to Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, Christian Bale and now Ben Affleck – without ever quite leaving the shadows of Gotham city. He has reprised the role several times himself during his career, most recently providing his voice to the new Lego game Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.

“I decided early on to embrace the character,” says West, who hasn’t suffered from typecasting, so much as owned it. “I mean how many actors are lucky enough to play a character that becomes iconic?”

Outside of Batman, his roles more often than not riffed on his own life: a fading star whose glory days were spent as a TV superhero. In fact, the actor has made a career from a part with just as much longevity as his first one: Adam West is now famous for playing Adam West.

Recently – and when you’re close to 90 that means for the past two decades – West has appeared in a range of shows, from The Simpsons, Fairly Oddparents and 30 Rock to several Funny or Die videos, as himself. It’s come to the point where the screenwriters’ wiki site, TV Tropes, has even named a trope after him, Adam Westing, which it describes as a form of self-parody.

“Some actors get reputations that just won’t go away,” the site elaborates. “Maybe they’re famous for being divas on the set. Maybe they’re famous for only playing certain roles — or even worse, only playing one role. Nobody will let them forget it. They can struggle mightily to earn a new reputation ... or they can resign themselves to their fate and make a career out of it.”

True to form, in the new Lego game West appears both as himself and as the original 1960s Batman, complete with campy sound effects and the cartoon exclamations “thwack!” and “pow!” In each level there are also hidden Adam Wests in peril, to be rescued.

Of course, there will be those under 30 who will know West not from Batman but from Family Guy, in which he plays the maniacal and unhinged Mayor Adam West (whose name is always said in full). Show creator Seth McFarlane is a long-time fan of the actor, and can do a killer impression, imitating perfectly West’s deep, gravelly register. Is it surreal to have had so many different animators manipulate his persona on screen?

“I love the way you describe that. Yes, it’s so fascinating to see what they do with me that I can’t take my eyes off myself or any screen on which I might be appearing! Like I said, I’m the luckiest actor in the world.”

When I tell West I’m a big Family Guy fan, he replies “you’re too young – you mustn’t watch it.” I’m 31, I say. “Too young,” he says, adamant. West’s publicist is on the line and tries to wrap things up. But West hasn’t had enough and suggests we continue. With no more questions lined up, I throw the floor open and ask what he’d like to talk about.

“What are you wearing?” he growls. A little stunned, I laugh, incredulous. He quickly adds: “I gave you a little shot of the mayor!”

With six more episodes of Family Guy wrapped and still to air, and hosting duties on a new travel show too, West has clearly not lost his appetite for work.

“It’s better than the alternative,” he says. Which is? “Dying.” I say it’s possible to die, long before you start dying. “I know exactly what you mean,” he responds. “I see it around me and I resent that. I think those people need someone to talk to. You have no idea the people I meet when I do these Comic-Cons. When I go sign autographs and say hello to people, I see everything!”