Movies - TV
How Adam West Differentiated Between Playing Batman And Bruce Wayne
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
In the 1966 TV series “Batman,” Adam West played Batman with a stern “Batman voice” and Bruce Wayne with a laid-back, bedroom vocal, but the two were very similar in their behavior and attitude. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, West was asked what he consciously did to separate Batman from Bruce Wayne, and it seems West had a well-thought-out process.
West said, “When I got the part, I tried to remember Batman as I knew him when I was a kid — with emotional recall. [...] When you play a legend, you have to play it with a straight direct line, direct speech, and movement ... Now Bruce, on the other hand, has to come across as the kindest, noblest, most charitable guy — again, 'straight-line' — not Cary Grant charming.”
Bruce Wayne, a modern man of the 1960s, had to be more civics-minded, seeing as he was often attending charity balls and hobnobbing with Gotham City's wealthy classes. In fitting fashion, Bruce Wayne was the grounded one, and Batman was the fantasy. The fact that West seemed at ease in both roles speaks loudly to his talents as an actor.