I was never a fan of Batman, the television series. Correction, I didn’t understand camp.
(You must understand, I was in junior high, preparing to graduate to high school, and thought myself a serious intellectual. 😛 )
I did remember Adam West from a previous episode of Robert Taylor’s The Detectives, though. I liked him in that role.
Most persons who become type cast eventually fade away, unless they have amazing talent and staying power. George Reeves killed himself (or was murdered). And Baby Boomers will always associate him with the Superman TV series.
Mr. West worked long before he was Batman, and long afterward. Sometimes as cartoon voice-overs, but not always. He didn’t just do car shows with the Batmobile. He embraced the Batman mythos, and made it his.
And, not unlike Patrick Stewart (in American Dad), he made his famous voice even more famous in ‘adult’ cartoons, like Family Guy. (as the Mayor of Quahog).
He passed after a short bout with leukemia. Having had a blood disease, myself, this definitely got my attention.
He will be missed.
He definitely had his moments, during a long career. It’s not his fault that, for the Batman TV show, there was such a fine line between camp & silly. But ’tis a fact that I still enjoy the occasional rerun of that old show, even now, precisely because it recalls the comic books of the era (of which I was a fan).
Regardless of our divergent opinions of the show, he was a good guy with a long career.
Sadly that pretty much ‘branded’ him for the rest of his career. It took him a long time to accept that.
And he did capitalize on that, once he accepted it.