Adam West, who returned 'Batman' to iconic glory, dies

Adam West, the actor who returned Batman to its iconic status in the 1960s, died Friday night in Los Angeles, his family announced Saturday. 

West died from complications of leukemia, a family spokesperson said in a Facebook post on West's page. He was 88.

"There are no words to describe how much we'll miss him. We know you'll miss him too and we want you to know how much your love and support meant to him throughout the years," West's family said in the statement.

West was a journeyman actor, appearing mostly in TV westerns in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He appeared in Paul Newman's The Young Philadelphians (1959) and later had a part in Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). He provided a voice to the animated Redux Riding Hood (1997), which received an Oscar nomination for best short film.

Batman producer William Dozier took notice when West played Captain Quik, a James Bond-esque character with a sailor's cap in commercials for Nestle's Quik.

At the time, he was filming a spaghetti western in Europe, but returned to the U.S. to meet with Dozier. Thirty pages into the script, he knew "it was the kind of comedy I wanted to do," he said in a 2006 interview with the Archive of American Television.

"I thought it was a fine exercise in absurdity. Nothing I'd ever read was like Batman," West told The Dallas Morning News in 2005.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, West signed the contract and asked that he be given the opportunity to approve who would play his sidekick, Robin the Boy Wonder. He approved the casting of Burt Ward, who had no acting experience.

Ward and West made personal appearances together in numerous fan expos, including the Fan Expo Dallas.

"Adam and I love meeting people," he told The Dallas Morning News last year. "We sign autographs on our fans' favorite pieces of memorabilia, some over 50 years. We get lunch boxes that are completely rusted. Photographs of them in a costume and the photos are falling apart."

Although West embraced his Batman persona, he had difficulty finding a role after the series ended a three-year run in 1968. He was typecast as a campy character and significant roles were not rolling in.

"For a number of years I didn't have many serious offers," West said in 2005. "There have been many times over the  years, 3 or 4 in the morning, when that old dog bites your leg and you feel, 'Oh, God, where do I go from here? Did I do something wrong?'

"But people have been wonderful with me, with the Batman thing, and it makes it all worthwhile."

He had a recurring role on Family Guy and other animated versions of Batman. West received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.

"With Batman, it helped remembering playing Batman as a kid," he said in 2005. "When I pulled on that cowl, I was a kid playing Batman as best I could and having fun with it."

One of West's co-stars was the late Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl and spent her teen years in Oak Cliff. West also made an appearance in Texas in 1966 when he starred in Batman: The Movie, which had its premiere in Austin. Reportedly, the BatBoat featured in the film was created by an Austin-based company and its compensation was having the film open in Austin.

West was born William West Anderson in 1928 in Walla Walla, Wash. He is survived by his wife Marcelle, six children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. West had homes in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, but he and his wife spent most of their time at their ranch near Sun Valley, Idaho.