Adam West will appear as himself on the 200th episode of The Big Bang Theory, the CBS hit sitcom based on scientists who are fans of the genres science fiction,science fantasy, and superheroes.
West joins a small list of popular personalities of fandom who have appeared on the show. Others include Battlestar Galactica actor Katie Sackhoff, Firefly‘s Summer Glau, comic book legend Stan Lee, Star Wars‘ James Earl Jones & Carrie Fisher, and Star Trek actors Levar Burton, Leonard Nimoy (voice over only), George Takei, and Wil Wheaton. Wheaton will also appear on the 200th episode, unfortunately.
Adam West, born William West Anderson in Walla, Walla, Washington, is most famous for his role as Batman; a role in which he has vocally reprised often in various cartoons. He has also voiced Thomas Wayne (the father of Bruce Wayne), The Gray Ghost (Bruce Wayne’s television idol), Mayor Grange, and Protobot in different cartoon series based on Batman. He portrayed Batman in live action in 1979’s two-part Legends of the Superheroes. In the 1986 short-lived police sitcom The Last Precinct, he wore the Batman costume but without the bat symbol on his chest. He also wore the cowl and a track suit years earlier to a wrestling event where he got into a war of words with Jerry “The King ” Lawler, dressed as “SuperKing”.
His other superhero roles have included Cat-Man on The Fairly Odd Parents and The Galloping Gazelle on the live action series Goosebumps.
It won’t be the first time Mr. West is portraying himself on screen. He voiced his appearances as himself on several cartoon series like The Simpsons and Johnny Bravo, and he continues to voice a wacky version of himself on the adult themed Family Guy. West has appeared as himself in films like the Burt Reynold’s film Hooper and decades later in Drop Dead Gorgeous. He has appeared as himself many times on several shows including Murphy Brown, The Drew Carey Show, and King of Queens and has also voiced himself and his version of Batman in a video game called Lego Batman 3:Beyond Gotham.