Having zapped his way into the public consciousness in the pages of detective comics in 1939 and thrilled matinée audiences in two serialised film adaptations in the 1940s, on 12 January 1966, a costumed crime fighter further captured the hearts, and punctured the laughter ducts of kids and adults alike. In doing so, he was inaugurated into the hallowed halls of both television history and pop culture per se. Who was that masked man? Off screen his name was Adam West. On-screen he was, no, always will be the da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, daaa... BATMAN!

You came into contact with Hollywood at a very early age via your mother...

When I was a little guy we lived in Hollywood for a while because she had a scholarship to study opera, you know, piano and singing... I suppose there was some influence from people in that business, musicians mostly. But I guess it starts early. You get a taste of something, and if you like it, you think there's a big world out there...

So you did have aspirations to become an actor even back then as a young kid?

You know, I just don't remember when I didn't think about it.

What was your first break?

It wasn't much of a break. I played hooky from my jobs in Honolulu, and did a little part in this picture with Boris Karloff, but never met him even though I was in the same scene - it was an intercut thing. Then I did one other movie while I was there, and you know... little things.

Why did you change your name from Billy West Anderson?

Because when I moved to LA and went under contract at Warners, we just felt that maybe the name Billy West Anderson was a little too long. Also Billy Anderson was the name of the first movie cowboy.

There had already been a couple of Batman film serialisations in the 1940s, but you're the guy who really catapulted the character from the comic books to TV and movie fame... how did you get the call?

I'd been doing a spaghetti Western in Europe, in Spain and Italy, and I went back to the States to visit my family, and my agent said: "There's a project on at Fox, a new one, called Batman." My immediate reaction was: "Look I'm trying to have a serious career here, and I don't know." He said: "Go out and talk to them.

I went, and I talked to the late executive producer, Bill Dozier, and two or three other people, and I read that pilot script... and I just fell down, I thought it was so enormously funny and different. I took my agent aside and said: "Look, I've got an offer as you know, for more films in Europe, but, I wanna do this... and if they want me, let's get it done today, because I love this material."

And sure enough, they negotiated that they wanted me, and I went immediately into pre-production. It was that fast. I didn't find out until some time later why they wanted me.

Why was that?

They'd seen a series of commercials I'd done for Nestlé Quick instant milkshake, in which I did a kind of spoof on the James Bond character. They saw the commercials and thought: "Hey, maybe this is the guy that can play the character in the way that we envision it."

How did you prepare for the role?

Well you know, it's tough to talk about acting... but, what I did... was go back a bit, to the comics. By sense memories of what I felt when I was a kid reading that stuff, the question that was in my head was: "How do we do this thing on several levels, so that the kids enjoy the adventure and the excitement, and get caught up in it, yet the adults are able to see the fun and the absurdities of it, the entendre?" That was really a task, because it doesn't work if you think you're funny... you have to be aware of the humour in it, and enhancing it, but at the same time... you're in on the joke, you can't allow the audience to think that you're anything less than serious about it.

That really came across, the combination of those two elements that bridged the gap between kids and adults and made it so successful. But I'm glad that you said it was for the audience to find you funny. It's the same with anything, whether you're an artist, an actor, or whatever... it's for other people to say how good you are. You just do what you do, and have fun doing it.
I like it. You really nailed it Billy, because I get asked a lot to define, to analyse, to be judgmental about this whole phenomenon, and, like you just indicated, all I did was just go in and do it. You know, you go in and do your thing... and say: "Send me the money!"

When you used to put the cape and cowl on, didn't you actually believe in the existence of Batman?

Ah yes, it was a kind of a strange belief, but yes, you have to. It's very important, that you use little cues to yourself so that you can become the character instantly. With the Batman thing especially, it was childlike. So what I just instantly used, was being a child, and playing the game - "Hey, let's play Batman and Robin!" "Okay..."

So how uncomfortable was that suit?

Well you were putting on your tights to put on the world, you know... it was hot. Mostly hot, and er... tight in certain areas. Billy, it was itchy is what it was (laughs).

With Batman being so wild and off the wall, were there ever times when it went

disastrously wrong?

Yeah, there were times when special effects were a bit over-zealous. On the first day of filming as a matter of fact with The Riddler. As part of the scene his car turned over... I sat down to watch this before I started my first scene, but they'd forgot to let the air out of the tyres so they wouldn't explode in the fire... so the tyres exploded and shrapnel, shreds of rubber were flying over my head, and I thought: "Well, yes, this show will be quite different."

What was one of the funniest moments?

Well, you know, as I recall, probably once a week something happened that was so funny nobody could go on for five minutes. I think of Vincent Price as Egghead, and part of the scene was, he was to throw eggs at us... "Eggsactly". He'd been supplied with gross, rotten eggs, by the prop department, so when he started to throw the eggs, we decided to throw 'em back. And pretty soon everybody on the set was throwing these damned eggs. It was the biggest mess ya ever saw in your life. But it did release some of the tension.

Your Batman role undoubtedly bought you to the attention of a lot of female admirers. Were there any particularly odd or outrageous encounters with them?

It's difficult (laughs)... for me to talk about these things, because I'm a well married man... But, well yeah, things like you'd come back and the sheets on your bed are all slashed and pieces taken. Things like that happened, because... I guess when you're hot you're hot.

And you were hot... didn't you get to meet the Pope as well?

My agent and I were in Rome, and they found out, and we were invited to have an audience at the Vatican along with other members of the entertainment industry. It was interesting because... he said that he watched the show, and I was flabbergasted. He said he enjoyed it. I found that very impressive, that he could be that charming.

Do you think he really did do?

I've got no way of knowing... except he was wearing a cape too.

Didn't one of our ex-prime ministers, Maggie Thatcher, invite you over to London once?

Yeah, she was the Minister Of Transport at that time, and she asked if I'd do a little road safety film for the children. I put on the costume and played Batman as kinda the Pied Piper. Of course, it being the opposite from the States where you say: "Look left, look right, look left again..." here you say: "Look right, look left, look right again... "So I got terribly confused.

Out of all the episodes, is there a defining, most memorable Batman moment?

Well probably my favourite episode was the first one, with Frank Gorshin as The Riddler. Because it was our first hour, it was done with great care, in all departments. I suppose the most defining moment, or memorable, first time thing, was walking out on that stage... walking out of my dressing room as Batman, across the floor toward the crew, and trying (laughs) to maintain a little dignity, and then realising that they actually believed that it was Batman... that I'd pulled this thing off.

So the magic worked right from the off?

That the magic was working. And then to see the giant elephants, and the little parachutes coming down, with riddles from The Riddler himself... It was everything I had hoped it would be.

Because you were so recognised as being Batman, when the series was over did it have an adverse effect on you getting other roles?

Oh absolutely. I had a hunch that was gonna happen, but... I decided to risk it. It caused me... some pain and a lot of work to get out of it after, to do other things. It probably took me three or four years, before I started to really work well again. I did all kinds of things, circuses, theatre...

What did you do in the circus?

I did two circuses. I was in Detroit during the race riots, which wasn't fun. I did a lot of running, was shot out of canons, stunt fights, things like that.

What, dressed up as Batman or...

Both. It was just a matter of staying alive, and hanging in there until I could go on to something else.

You were in The Simpsons weren't ya?

Yeah... it was memorialised there in The Simpsons. Wonderful show, really funny. As a matter of fact, they gave me a couple of pretty good lines. One of which made an impression to the point that, when I was in Canada not too long ago, I was doing a show and two young guys walked up and said: "Mr West, we've named our company after you."

I said: "Oh, what kind of company is that?"
They said: "It's a graphics company" - and they handed me their card, and the company's name was Pure West (laughs). I said: "How'd you get the name?' And they said: "Well that was one of your lines in The Simpsons. You said: "Hey kid, it's just pure West."

What does the future hold for you?

Well, I never really know. I'm developing two screenplays that I've written. One I'm hoping to get Leslie Nielsen interested in doing with me, a full, balls-out comedy - with a dark edge.

What subject matter?

I think I'll keep that under my cape and cowl. Another one that I think we're doing, that I'll be directing as well, is called A Viking Funeral. And then I have another project called Lying On The Couch, about psychiatrists and some of their misadventures. I do voice-overs. I did a couple of series of Family Guy, and Spy Dogs, and I did the voice of a character called Agent M for MacDonalds ads. And, just you know, TV guest-spots, different things.

How do you want to be remembered?

You know, I have never really thought about that, I guess because I just can't seem to visualise my tombstone. I suppose the important thing for me, is to be remembered more as a family man. Well remembered, well regarded, well loved, or whatever, by my family more than the business. I've always tried to fit what I do professionally into my family, rather than the other way around.