West Says TV Ad Stole His Portrayal of Batman

As Batman, television actor Adam West was accustomed to battling such super villains as the Penguin and the Joker. But in Burbank Superior Court on Tuesday, West took on a more substantial foe--a group of advertising agencies he alleges stole his characterization.

West, who portrayed the caped crusader in the campy 1960s television series, is seeking $900,000 in damages from the agencies for producing a television commercial featuring another actor as Batman.

West, 51, testified Tuesday that the actor in the commercial used physical gestures, mannerisms and speech patterns similar to the ones he used in the television series.

“I believe there was an attempt to make the public believe that it was me portraying Batman in the commercial,” West testified Tuesday in the first day of the civil trial. “As a matter of fact, I salute what they did as a very good copy.”

The 1986 commercial depicts the Batman and Robin characters shopping during the Christmas season at Zayre’s, a chain of discount department stores.

West, who filed suit in 1988, said the 30-second commercial has been shown many times in the United States since 1986, damaging his reputation as an actor.

“It is hard to describe the process of creating a performance,” West testified. “But there were definitely gestures, things that I did to give the role a unique quality.”

West, who still makes public appearances as Batman, testified Tuesday that if he had done the commercial he would have charged $175,000.

The suit names three agencies--Ian Leech and Associates of Los Angeles, Ingalls, Quinn and Johnson of Boston, and BBDO New York.

Anthony Liebig, an attorney for the agencies, said they purchased the rights to portray Batman from DC Comics, which originated the character. Liebig suggested Tuesday that West’s portrayal of Batman was the result of the direction he received by the producers and director of the television show.

“Actors perform roles, they don’t own them,” Liebig said. “If you want to do a commercial using Robin Hood, do you have to go deal with the estate of Errol Flynn? If you start letting actors own characters, you’ve started to change the rules.”