Adam West said WHAT?!: 10 quotes from the Batman star

Holy quotations, Batman!

We're lucky that Adam West and the things he said were recorded as often as they were. He was a unique man, both in and out of the Batsuit. You probably see that iconic cowl and think to yourself, "Hey, I bet that guy's got something interesting to say." 

Well, you're in luck, dear reader. Collected here, for your education and pleasure, are ten quotes from the late, great Adam West. He muses on life, liberty and the pursuit of criminals as only he could. So join us as the Caped Crusader takes flight once more with these ten Adam West quotes collected from a 2015 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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1. On Batman 66's continued popularity

"We all set out to do an homage to the comic book. We said, 'Let's do this on several levels,' and this is what we accomplished."

2. On Batman's audience

"For the kids, it was always exciting and kind of fun with all the super villains and so on. The adults realized that it was a comedy. We were doing a comedic homage, really."

3. Regarding his parents

"My dad was a farmer, a very good one and kind of a Gary Cooper-type, but he was always behind me whatever I wanted to do. They never prevented me or held me back. All I can say is they were understanding, they were kind, and they loved the progress I made."

4. When that Batsignal first lit up the sky

"I was under contract at Warner. I did The Detectives with Robert Taylor and I did a lot of Westerns, but that was kind of the way I was headed. Then, along came Batman, and everything changed. My career, the way it was going, was in a sense interrupted in a very dramatic way."

5. Family Guy

"When Family Guy came along, I said yes. I knew Seth (McFarland) had written the pilot for me, and I welcomed the chance to create a character with my name that was making fun of myself."

6. On self-deprecation

"I think I've always had that kind of self-assessment that what I do isn't really that important. I don't mind making fun of myself. I think more people should have that kind of sense of humor."

7. Regarding perseverance

"When I left Warner, it was really tough. I mean, ups and downs and all around. Just to hang in there and have persistence and keep pursuing your goal, it was tough. I got turned down. I got rejected."

8. When he stopped taking critics seriously

"I think it was mostly after Batman. They had been pretty good to me. Then after Batman, it got relegated to words of convenience, like... 'It was lucky,' or 'It was camp.' But then there were other writers and books that analyzed it much better than I could." 

9. His winning formula on-set

"All I did was go into the studio and try to bring something fresh with my concept of the character."

10. Souvenirs and Mementos

"I have some things. As a matter of fact, I have all 120 of my old original scripts with my own notes and so on. I just had an offer: $1 million for the scripts. Isn't that incredible?"

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13 Comments

stagebandman 8 months ago
I hope he cashed in with those scripts before he died.
WilliamJorns 8 months ago
I wonder what happened to his script collection after he died. I hope someone kept them together and archived them in a library somewhere.
purplerose60 8 months ago
I had a Batman lunchbox in 1st grade, best show ever!!!
Andybandit 9 months ago
I love Batman after Svengoolie. No Sventunie please.
rory49 Andybandit 8 months ago
I know - how can you just show one episode of a 2-parter? Even way back when, you didn't have to wait a week to see if Batman & Robin escape!
tmac1951 9 months ago
The Detectives, I totally forgot about show, I don’t recall that being in reruns on any network
Mark tmac1951 8 months ago
It ran in syndication here in Cleveland. Channel 55 showed it in the channel's infancy. You can see a few episodes on YouTube.
tmac1951 Mark 8 months ago
Thanks so much, just checked and no commercials!!
daDoctah 9 months ago
The thing that always tickled me about his work on Family Guy is that McFarlane was careful never to state that the mayor of Quahog was actually the guy who played TV's Batman in the sixties. The mayor was *named* Adam West, drawn to *look* like Adam West, *voiced* by Adam West, and there were a few references to say that he had been an actor before going into politics (linking him to the likes of Sonny Bono and Clint Eastwood), but never that he was supposed to be the actual Batman star.

In fact, they had West voice an in-costume Batman character in one or two episodes, just to keep that ambiguity working.
cperrynaples daDoctah 9 months ago
Yeah, but why not show an image of Mayor West?
justjeff cperrynaples 9 months ago
OK, I will...
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