The Faces of Comic Book Superhero Batman

Altho Batman never had a radio show of his own he did make frequent appearances on the Superman series. The first appearance of Batman on the Superman show was in 1945 and he was done by Canadian Stacy Harris who went on to play some parts in some big shows such as Dragnet, Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Emegency. Matt Crowley took over for Harris as the Batman and played it till the late 40's after which he ended up doing a few shows like Car 54, Where are You?, Patty Duke and the soap opera Edge of Night.

From 1973-1980 Olan Soule did the voice of Batman during the Saturday morning Superfriends cartoons and in 1984 and 1986 Adam West returned to lend his voice to the Caped Crusader for Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. Since then from 1992-2006 Kevin Conroy has been the voice of Batman off and on for the animated TV and Movie shows, however in 1998 Michael Ironside and Gary Owens each did a stint in a couple of the animated movies. In 2004 Rino Romano took over the Saturday morning Caped Crusader's voice.

1943 is when Batman first appeared in a 15 episode television series and when the comic book superhero removed his mask to resume his day to day life as millionare playboy Bruce Wayne, it was Lewis Wilson's face that was seen. After playing Batman, and despite his good looks, Lewis never really did take off to the big times. He stuck around a few more years landing the role of Walt Jameson in Craig Kennedy, Criminologist in 1952 but his last known performance was in the Naked Alibi in 1954. After this Wilson ended up working at General Foods for many years to support his family. Lewis and his wife Dana had a son, Michael, who now is the executive producer of the James Bond movies. Douglas Croft played Robin, Batman's sidekick.

In 1949 a new Bruce Wayne appeared in another 15 episode series of Batman and Robin. Robert Lowery, the second actor to make the comic book superhero into a real live Batman. He first went to Hollywood as a lead vocalist and was signed to an acting contract in 1937 by 20th Century-Fox. Prior to his role as Batman, Lowery already had a lot of acting experience under his bat-belt which includes several of the Charlie Chan movies, as well as The Mark of Zorro with Tyrone Powers and in Tarzan's Desert Mystery with Johnny Weissmuller. In 1950 Lowery married his first wife, actress, Jean Parker (played Beth is the 1933 movie Little Women) was the only wife to have a child. Robert was married twice more after that to actresses Vivian Wilcox and Rusty Farrell.

After his run as Batman, Lowery still went on to do some major pictures with some major stars like John Wayne (McLintock, 1963), George Reeves (Superman, 1956), Lowery was the first Batman actor to also play on the same screen with the Superman character, , however he wasn't playing in the role as Bruce Wayne or Batman at the time. He also played in The Ballad of Josie with Doris Day and Peter Graves and many more. Robin, Batman's faithful side-kick was played by Johnny Duncan

Adam West is the third and most popular Batman of all. In 1966, 16 years after the last Batman, the "powers that be" at Fox went in search of a new Bruce Wayne/Batman and low and behold they found Adam West. West played the millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his secret identity Batman for 3 seasons. Yes, yes I know, there's major complaints because poor West got stereo typed in the role of Batman and found it hard to get any serious work after that. Instead he did a lot of voice overs including the role of Batman, once again, in the animated 1977 The New Adventures of Batman and in 1979 Legends of the Superheros and then again in 1984 and '85 in SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians and in '83 Batman except he wasn't Batman, he was Simon Trent. He also did quite a few short roles in weekly sitcoms such as Diagnosis Murder, Lois and Clark and Murder, She Wrote also including some voice overs for shows like the Rugrats, The Simpsons and Family Guy where he plays Mayor Adam West, a parody of West himself. West figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. West has also done some other work as well in movies and television since his Batman days.

Prior to all this tho Adam West wasn't a total newbie to the acting scene. After he graduated from College, where he had also gotten married the first time during his last year to Billie Lou Yeager, West got a job as DJ at local radio station. After being drafted into the army and spending 2 years there, West and his wife decided to tour Europe and when the money ran out, he met up with his college buddy and started doing the The Kini Popo Show in Hawaii, where he was divorced and then met and married his second wife Ngatokoruaimatauaia Frisbie Dawson (Nga for short) in 1956. West and Nga had 2 children, Jonelle in '57 and Hunter in '58. The couple was divorced in 1962. West moved to Hollywood in 1959 and spent the next 7 years in various movie and television roles. At first it was mainly westerns or cop shows which included the role of Doc Holliday in the series Lawman in 1959, a role he shared with Ceasar Romero (The Joker) and Val Kilmer (1995 Batman).

In 1972, Adam West met and married his present wife, Marcelle Tagand Lear. They had 2 children together, Nina West in 1976 and Perrin West in 1979. In addition Lear also had 2 daughters from a pervious marriage and West also adopted them too.

Despite rumours to the contrary Adam West is still very much alive, he's now 80.

Before he was Michael Keaton......before he was Beetlejuice......before he was Batman, he did a billboard ad for the Architect Jeans Company credited as Michael John Douglas but when he decided to be an actor Keaton thought a stage name would be more appropriate since there was already a well known actor by the name of Michael Douglas. After seeing a picture of Diane Keaton, he decided the name Michael Keaton would be better. Altho he never changed it legally. After his attempt and fail at comedy Keaton became a stagehand in the children's show Mister Roger's Neighborhood in 1968 and then in 1975 had his first tv appearance as one of the Flying Zuchinni Brothers. After which he decided to head to Los Angeles to try his hand at acting. During the early '70's Keaton had small roles in series like Maude and The Mary Tyler Moore show but wasn't really noticed till he starred opposite James Belushi in Working Stiffs in 1979 and he ended up on the big screen with Henry Winkler in 1982 in Night Shift. Keaton ended up with some great roles after his debut, such as Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984) , Gung Ho (1986) but his favorite role was that of Beetlejuice in 1988 and he still looks forward to doing a sequel of it.

In 1982 Keaton married actress Caroline McWilliams, some may remember her from the sitcom Soap or Benson. In the 6 years they were married, Keaton and McWilliams had one son in 1983. In 1989, Keaton also had a 6 year relationship with actress Courtney Cox. Also in 1989 Tim Burton cast Keaton in the role of Batman. Fans were not happy with this choice since Keaton had only did comedic roles and to them there was no way he'd make an appropriate comic book superhero. How wrong they were! Keaton was my favorite Batman of them all and as it turns out everyone else as well. So much so that Keaton returned again in 1992 to do Batman Returns. At first he turned down the role, agreeing that he wasn't the right actor for the role, however Keaton agreed to the do the role. Keaton even agreed to come back a third time in 1995 for Batman Forever but when Tim Burton was dropped, Keaton did much care for the screenplay approved by Schumacher.

Between his roles as Batman, Michael Keaton decided it was time to diversify his roles and in 1990 he played psychotic Carter Hayes in the movie Pacific Heights (one of my fav movies), One Good Cop in 1991 and My Life (1993). Keaton has since played in numerous movies and done numerous types of roles. Including Speechless with none other then the most popular Superman himself, Christopher Reeve and Out of Sight with his Batman successor George Clooney.

Flashbacks to when Batman was young were played by Charles Roskilly in the 1989 Batman movie.

Val Kilmer and his 2 brothers, Mark and Wesley were born and raised in Los Angeles on the farm that was once owned by famous cowboy Roy Rogers. After being the youngest student to graduate from Juillard, at the time, he also played in and co-wrote a couple of stage plays with other classmates (Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon). After playing in a couple of minor roles, in 1986 he starred in the movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise which got him finally noticed. While fiming the movie Willow, Kilmer met and married co-star Joanne Whalley (Scarlett, 1994), mother of his 2 children daughter Mercedes (1991) and son Jack (1995), the marriage only lasted until '96.

The 90's were pretty good for Kilmer's career. He sent a video of himself playing music by The Doors to Oliver Stone, altho it was Paul Rothchild (original manger of The Doors) who was actually shaken by it. During filming of this movie, the rest of the band had a hard time remembering it was Kilmer playing the role and not the real Morrison himself. In 1993 Kilmer(Doc Holliday) joined Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton in Tombstone. Then in 1995, after Michael Keaton turned down the role, Kilmer was cast as Batman in Batman Forever, the only blonde to ever play Batman. After Batman, he co-starred with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in Heat, Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Morceau, with Michael Douglas in The Ghost and The Darkness and

then as Simon Templar in The Saint rather then return to his role as Batman.

Altho Kilmer is still doing movies such as The Missing, Alexander, Mindhunters and many more. He also did some stage work in 2005 in The Postman Always Rings Twice and in 2007 he also made his own album. Kilmer is also doing the voice of Kitt (the car) in the tv pilot of The Knight Rider. His future endeavors however will lead him away from the big screen and into the political world. In 2011 Kilmer is hoping to take over as Governor of New Mexico.

Flashbacks of a young Bruce Wayne/Batman were played by Ramsey Ellis

Who knew that George Clooney, son of former beauty queen Nina Bruce and journalist, anchorman, game show and American Movie Classics host, Nick Clooney, would become the 6th Batman. All during school George prefer to play baseball and basketball and even went so far as to try out for the Cincinnati Reds, altho he never made the cut. Making it in the movies wasn't easy for Clooney. When he first arrived in LA, he bunked with his Aunt, Rosemary Clooney who wouldn't really help him into the business because she didn't want him to be disappointed when he didn't make it. When things didn't pan out and George got depressed and something of a problem, Aunt Rosemary asked him to leave at which time he moved in with a friend, a year later Clooney finally started getting the roles. At first it was just bit parts here and there but in 1984 he played in a show called E/R, no not that one. This E/R starred Elliott Gould as a recently divorced physician. It's only lasted one season. From '85- '87 Clooney had a recurring role in The Facts of Life as the handyman George Burnett and then in 1988 he played Booker Brooks in Roseanne (the role I first saw him in). Thru the years Clooney got bit roles in weekly series and sitcoms such as Murder, She Wrote, Baby Talk, Hotel and The Golden Girls to name a few. The only movie he did during this time was a small bit in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Also during this time Clooney tried out for a role in Thelma and Louise but lost out to one of his good friends, Brad Pitt. Altho Clooney was racking in 40 grand a week, he still couldn't get into the movies. Then in 1994 George was cast in the role of Dr Doug Ross in ER, yup you got it, THAT ER. And remained on the show till 2000.

While still starring in the show ER, Clooney also made several movies at the time. One being Batman and Robin in 1997 with Chris O'Donnell as Robin. Also in '97 George received a note saying The Peacemaker was the first film being made by our studio and you'd be perfect for it. The studio was Dreamworks and the writer was Steven Spielberg. Clooney made numerous movies during his time on ER and after. But it was Out of Sight that had added benefits to it as well. Steven Soderbergh, his new future business partner. In 2001, Clooney founded the production studio Section Eight with Steven Soderbergh.

Clooney's more then just an actor tho, he's also known as quite the prankster among his friends. He's also champion for the underdog. Clooney is an actor, film maker, writer and all round Hollywoood powerhouse.In 2007, Clooney and his Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen co-star Brad Pitt would relentlessly campaign, raising nearly $10 million for the Save Darfur fund. For which George would officially be appointed a UN Messenger of Peace.

In the flashbacks of a young Bruce Wayne the part is played by Eric Lloyd

Christian Bale started acting when he was 9 years old in commercials. By the time he was 13 he was starring in a Steven Spielberg movie, Empire of The Sun (1987). Spielberg's then wife Amy Irving had played in a movie the previous year with Bale called Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986) and recommended him for the role. After doing Empire of The Sun, Bale received Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor award from the National Board of Review of Motion Picture. It was then that he wasn't sure whether he actually wanted to continue in acting or not. However, in 1989 he agreed to play in Henry V and then the following year in Treasure Island with Charlton Heston.

In 1992 Bale starred in Disney's musical called Newsies and then again in 1995 he did the voice of Thomas in Pocahontas and then again in 2007 as John Rolfe in The New World, a period piece inspired by the stories of Pocahontas. Altho Newsies wasn't a big box office hit, it did gain a cult following. Between these Disney movies tho, Christian starred in the movie Swing Kids. And then in 1994, Bale was handpicked by Winona Ryder to play the part of Laurie in Little Women. The bonus here is he met his future wife, Sandra Blazic, who was Ryder's assistant at the time. In '99 Bale also played in A Midsummer's Nights Dream with stars such as Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline. At the same time he agreed to play the part of Jesus in the tv movie Mary Mother of Jesus he also agree to play the part of Patrick Bateman, a serial yuppie killer in American Psycho. He thought he needed the part of Jesus to balance out the evil of Bateman.

The year 2000 was the year he married his long time girlfriend Sibi Blazic, personal assistant to Winona Ryder, and the same year he played in the remake of Shaft. In 2002 he also starred in a few more movies including Reign of Fire and Equilibrium. After having a year long hiatus he returned to play Trevor Reznik, a chronic insomniac protagonist in The Machinist (2004). During this time Bale lost a total of 63 pounds weighing in at 130 lbs. 2005 was Christian Bale's best year tho with his role as Batman in Batman Begins. Bale was also given 6 months to bulk up his weight to fit the Batman costume. Which he did. He actually bulked up to 220 lbs but lost a little before his role began. Altho Bale beat out Jake Gyllenhaal for the role of Batman in a reversal, Bale lost the role of Anthony Swofford in Jarhead to Gyllenhaal. Along with his acting career taking off, Bale's wife delivered his first child, a girl on 27 March, 2005. Then again in 2007 he did the role of Batman again in The Dark Knight. Bale has also had some very memorable roles in '06 and '07with some very promising roles in the future as well. Including the role of John Connor in Terminator Salvation (Schwarzenegger fame)

In Batman Begins the young Bruce Wayne is played by Gus Lewis

Thru out the years, there's been plenty of animated version and video games for Batman as well. I guess it is only fair to mention the ones who have lent their voices to Batman as well.

• From 1968 - 1983, the main person to lend his voice to the animated Batman series was Olan Soule, among his other many roles and a few sprinkling of others every now and then.

• 1977 is one of those years when Adam West lent his voice to the animated version of The New Adventures of Batman. As well as 1978 (Tarzan and the Super 7) and then again in '79 for Lengends of the Superheros. Then again in '84 and '85 (SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians). Then in 2005, West gave his voice to the computer animated version of Batman.

• From 1993 - 2008 the main voice of the animated Batman was Kevin Convoy. His credits include Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), Batman: The Animated Version (1995), SubZero (1998), The Batman/Superman Movie (1998), The New Adventures of Batman (1998), Superman (The Animated Series)(1998) and Static Shock (2004) and Justice League (2008). In the Batman Beyond series Convoy shared the voice of Batman with Will Friedle. See why here.




• In 2005 Rino Ramno took over as Batman in Batman vs Dracula: The Animated Movie and then again in 2008 in The Batman.

• There's a few others who've played Batman over the years in the animated series, including Christian Bale. You can check them out here.