Man, that one hurts. And I didn't see it coming. Although he's probably been quietly battling Leukemia for several years, undisclosed to the public.
I attended the opening of a nightclub Adam West co-owned here in Ft Lauderdale, The Cartoon Saloon, in 1996, which was open about 3 years (a cartoon-themed night club, I recall much of the place decorated with a wallpaper/mural background of the desert you see in Road Runner cartoons. West co-owned the place with Julie Newmar and Lou Ferrigno)
My impression was he remained bitter about being typecast and being denied more serious roles, and he spent most of those three decades doing signings at car-shows, before his career finally re-ignited about 20 years ago.
One of my favorites with him is a 1988 oddball teenage comedy that was one of the few acting jobs he did in that period, titled Doin' Time On Planet Earth. About a nerdy widely disliked kid who doesn't belong, who fills out an online questionnaire on his computer, and the source of the questionnaire, two leaders of this cult of UFO enthusiasts (led by Adam West's character) are convinced he is their leader who will lead them all to leave earth and return to their home planet.
