Actress Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman alongside the late Adam West’s Batman, paid tribute to her co-star Saturday, calling him “the finest Batman ever.”
West, the star of the popular and campy 1960s “Batman” TV show, died on Friday after a short battle with leukemia, his agent said. He was 88.
“People adored him. Long lines of people stood to get his autograph,” Newmar recalled to CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield.
To West’s fans, she emphasized he was more than just a TV star.
“A friend called me up this morning and said to me with tears in his voice, that Adam West was the father that we wanted,” she said.
“He was always very charming and open and available,” she added.
Newmar described West as “adorable” and “very present,” as well as a master of finding “the humor” in the character of Batman.
“He had that extra intelligence called wit, which allows us to live in this world above things and laugh at it,” she said.
Though the character of Batman went on to be played by actors such as Michael Keaton, George Clooney and Christian Bale in big-budget movies, Newmar argued that the TV show’s more simple approach to the character had made West particularly appealing to fans.
“He did not have to have his shoulders built up. He wasn’t a fake Batman or an over costumed Batman. I think he was the real thing,” she emphasized.
“I think he was and will be — and always will be — the finest Batman ever,” she said.
