Not in the 60s. The character didn’t exist.
But Jim Backus as the Penguin and paul Lynde as the Joker are good.
I can’t believe how much I’d like to see this.
I thought Cesar Romero was a FABULOUS joker!
He played the role with just a perfect amount of lunacy that was exactly what that series required.
Done entirely via Bob Newhart’s telephone call bits.
But she was retconned into the animated feature Batman vs. Two-Face, which was based upon the 1966 TV show.
Here she can be seen as Dr. Strange’s assistant. But a blonde actress has to play the part. Dawn Wells wouldn’t have worked out in that case.
Seconded. He and Gorshin could play psychopaths better than anyone else. I can’t imagine anyone else being as good a Joker as Romero was.
As for “not being menacing,” he literally scared the piss out of my three-year-old brother. Poor kid had nightmares about him and wet the bed for years afterward.
All of the actors who played villains loved being able to ham it up on Batman. The competition for the role of next week’s guest villain was fierce. From January to September 1966, ***Batman ***was the hottest series on TV.
Lordy, how I would love to have seen this.
And with all due respect to Miss Kitt, Julie Newmar was the ultimate dominatrix. No woman could wield a cat-o-nine tails better than she.
If you think about it, John Astin wouldn’t have been a bad choice to be the Joker.
The TV series Joker wasn’t as physically active as the Riddler, so what they would need was an actor who was high-energy and could do a maniacal laugh, but not necessarily one who could do the physical stunts Frank Gorshin did.
You know who might have been great as a 1960’s Joker? Desi Arnaz. Check him out in this.
Actually, it lasted barely two: It was a midseason replacement in January 1966, and the last episode aired in March 1968.
It was the hottest show on TV for 6–8 months, but the novelty wore off. After we all came back from summer vacation, the campiness wasn’t near as exciting.
(Oddly enough, 11-year-old me took the show dead seriously. I always thought it showed true-to-life scientific crimefighting, and I was offended when TV Guide listed it as a “Comedy.”)
The movie came out in July 1966, so it was really a rush job to cash in on the show’s popularity at the time.
Me, too. When I saw some episodes at the age of 20, I was floored to realize that my favorite gritty crime drama was a laugh riot.
He was always more of a Maynard G Krebs type.
I completely read this as the other Denver (John) for the role, and trying to figure out how that would have worked.
Denver “Uncle Jesse Duke” Pyle, maybe?
One data point: Jeff Bergman voiced the Joker in Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (the first of two animated features based on the 60s series).
Well I’m picturing Patrick Warburton as Batman. He may be a bit old, but he’s got the dry delivery down pat.
With Ian Armitage as Robin.
Jim Parsons as the Riddler
Rami Malek as the joker
Also in the sequel, Batman vs. Two-Face.
Romero’s Joker may not have worked in Christopher Nolan’s, Tim Burton’s, or even Joel Schumacher’s Batman universes. But he was absolutely pitch perfect in the 60’s camp version. I’ll fight anyone who claims otherwise, hitting them so hard that words describing the impact will appear in mid-air.
Here’s an interesting little interview from the era. Seems like he totally “got it.”
It is worth noting that Astin is the sole surviving (male) villain from Batman '66.
“So you were in the middle of painting a smiley face on the police headquarters, and these guys showed up and started punching you. What did they look like?”
“A cape and cowl?”
“And the kid was in tights. Right.”