Far and away my favorite is the Joker--he was antic, manic, funny, campy and threatening all at once--as an actor that's not an easy thing to do folks. Cesar Romero made him his own---such a brilliant, fun characterization.
Great Video!!!! I remember watching the show when I was a kid. The acting was cheesy sometimes but the villians were an A-list of who's who. Thanks for the memories.
She was the one who had the real chemistry with Adam West. Lee Meriweather tried in the movie but couldn't match it. Then they brought in Ertha Kitt. It was the '60's and they didn't try to make it work.
Cosmicblast77 I remember a radio morning show did a routine about Julie Newmar.man #1: Remember Julie Newmar from Batman? Well, today is her birthday.man #2: Yeah, she's sexy. She is slinky. She is hot.man #1: She's seventy=eight.
I am still amazed that the producers were able to cast so many A-list actors to make a guest appearance as a bat-villain. These people were all very famous back in the 60's. Otto Preminger, Tellullah Bankhead, Ethel Merman, Cliff Robertson, Van Johnson, Liberace to name just a few, were already Hollywood legends by then.
Catwoman: Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriwether (film) - Joker: Cesar Romero - Riddler: Frank Gorshin, John Astin (one appearance, not shown here); Bookworm: Roddy McDowell - Zelda: Anne Baxter - Egghead: Vincent Price - Marsha, Queen of Diamonds: Carolyn Jones (better known as Morticia Addams) - The Minstrel: Van Johnson - Louie: Milton Berle - Lord Marmaduke Ffogg: Rudy Vallee - Lady Penelope Peasoup: Glynis Johns - Dr. Casandra: Ida Lupino
when I was a kid growing up in england Batman was the only program on TV i would stay in for, it was brilliant. collected the a&BC gum cards too. best programme ever made and lots of my mates still talk about it to this day! There were a lot of famous actors in it too. RIP to all those creative people who made and too part in it who are no longer with us.
Bookworm was such a goofy character. I enjoy watching late night TV and seeing batman come on, but I have to admit that when I first saw the bookworm I was laughing so hard at his little hat light.
Even if you had never seen the show, you would be able to tell the great ones just by this clip. Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman just jump off the screen
This is one of the best things I've ever come across on YT! I never missed an episode of Batman on Wed & Thur nights back in the mid-60's, and I'd forgotten about some of these villians. Everybody in Hollywood was desperate for a role at the time! My personal favs were Joker, Penguin, and Mad Hatter. And how about Joan Collins as The Siren!!!
Ah, King Tut, my favorite classic villain. Wish he'd show up in something new... Ho, I totally forgot about Bookworm and, well, most of those other ones.
I heard once that there was at least an idea to have two face on the show, played by a young Clint Eastwood. that made me think, what other actors at the time could have made good batman villains? ones that came to mind for me were either Boris Karloff or peter Lorre as scarecrow, and Tina Louise as poison ivy.
I did...and I thought the made for tv Batman villians like Minerva, Nora Clavicle, Dr Cassandra, Lola Lasanga, Siren, Louie the Lilac, Lord Phogg, Puzzler, Black Widow were lame!
@3dartistguy According to Wikipedia, Killer Moth was played by Tim Herbert. I remember seeing that on TV, but I thought it was just a commercial advertising Batgirl's debut.
Yes, Archer was played by Art Canary, Bookworm aka Roddy McDowwall, Black Widow aka Tallaulah Bankhead, Catwoman, Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, Eartha Kitt; Chandel aka Liberace, ClockKing aka Walter Slezak, Nora Clavicle Ida Lupino, Col Gumm Roger C Carmel, Egghead Vincent Price, False Face/Malachi Throne, Green Hornet Van Williams, Joker Cesar Romero, King Tut Victor Buono, Louie the Lilac Milton Berle, Lord Phfogg Rudy Valliee, Lady Peasoup, Glynnis Johns, Lola Lasanga Ethel Merman, etc...
The second Riddler that was done by John Astin was too incidental to include. It was nothing more than John Astin doing Gomez Addams dressed as the Riddler, and it was a poor performance not keeping with the REAL and only Riddler, FRANK GORSHIN. I doubt highly that John Astin remembers or even wants to remember that spot.
Thanks Dude...unfortunately, there's nothing i cna do about the so called loudness of the background music without uploading the whole video up all over again. I tried the best i could at the time. thanks for the kind words. I loved King Tut and Egghead though, and couldn;t stand Eartha Kitt's Catwoman. They should gotten Lee Meriwhether to take up the role in the third season since she did a great movie in the movie...
mr.freeze by george sanders.otto preminger and eli wallach.siren by joan collins.the puzzler by maurice evans.sandman by michael rennie,shame by cliff robertson,mad hatter by david wayne,false face by malachi throne
@KryptonMike Yes, John (Gomez on "The Addams Family") Astin. But wonder why they didn't show footage of him as The Riddler when they showed all three Catwomans and Mr. Freezes?
I wasn't thinking about the amount of time for each villian, I simply got what I believed was the best clip of each villian no matter what the amount of time, but it couldn't be too long.
Maybe its because Clock King, Siren, Archer, bookworm, Black Widow, Egghead, false face, King Tut, Louie the Lilac and others were made for tv villians...Adam West lamented that they should have used villians from the comics like the Mothman, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, the Getaway Genius.Two Face, Signal Man and others..but right now, the producers of the new Batman movies are trying to stay far away from any aspects of the tv series as possible unfortunately. I always liked the Batpoles...
There's a whole article on the tradition of the guest star (and this show is a big participant in that tradition) in the cool new book FIFTY SHADES OF TRAILER PARK BOYS: TPB in the Great Comedic Traditions. It's at amazon now!
The reason is because it was just John Astin doing Gomez dressed as the Riddler and it was very disappointing performance! Frank Gorshin defined the Riddler, accept no poor doubles!
Only a few seconds of Egghead?! I know he's a ridiculous villain, but he's played by Vincent Price! That alone should give him at least twenty seconds!
the producers weren't interested in the comic at the time. it was pretty juvenile and they just basically ignored it. they were just interested in creating villians that the guest star celebrities could play since it was a showcase for celebrities to appear and play a villian for the chance to be mean to Batman and Robin. Unfortunatrly, the tv series got into a set formula that got tiring to the audience after a while. Only when they did break up the formula did the shows stand out.
Bravo!! I hated every damn one of them. I remember once as a kid, I think it was the Penguin building something inside a building, u could hear banging and noise and Batman couldn't figure out what it was. I waited till the same Bat time next week and the Penguin came busting out of the side of the building in a TANK !! I though for sure Batman was in trouble that time.
The story i heard was Gorshin was booked in vegas and couldn't make the shoot. Mr. astin was called in at the last minute. I think he did pretty well considering. It would have been great if he had his own character.
Can you imagine if they had gone ahead with their plans to use Clint Eastwood as Harvey Dent/Two-Face? I would have chosen Tony Curtis to play the part, but Eastwood would have brought something with a bit more edge to it.
So Mr Freeze has to look blue to actually look like Mr Freeze? The original Mr Freeze was called Mr. Zero and didn't have blue skin...sheesh. George Sanders was very cold in his portrayal of Mr Freeze.
Batman and Robin thought they were criminals and even the Green Hornet told kato that "most of the world looks on us as criminals, only very few know different.' They were both headlined as guest crimefighters and Bruce Lee was headlined as 'guest assitant crimefighter'. Commissioner Gordon called Batman because 'that arch criminal the Green Hornet" was in town. I believe that Roger C. Carmel was also headlined as the real villian.
