Entertainment Weekly is reporting the death of Frank Gorshin.
While most people my age will always know him as the Riddler on the Batman TV show, I will always remember his stellar performance as George Burns in “Say Goodnight Gracie” on Broadway.
I kinda liked his goofy Performance as the Riddler. I always thought he would have made a better Joker with that manic laugh. I was happy to see him in 12 Monkeys. Nice little performance as the Doubting Doctor.
Of course then there’s his turn as a certain Half black half white alien on a favorite show of mine.
Yeah, I mainly remember him as the Riddler. Riddle me this, riddle me that, who’s afraid of the big, black Bat? I guess Gorshin has gone up to the Big Question Mark In The Sky. We shall miss him.
I saw an erroneous report somewhere of Gorshin’s death last month; it was in fact his birthday, not his death day. I suspect someone didn’t get the correction.
I mainly remember Gorshin doing Richard Burton in the closing scene from Camelot on Ed Sulivan, Mike Douglas, and so on. I understand he was very proud of it and considered it serious work. For me, it was cringe inducing.
I saw Frank Gorshin at a science fiction convention a few years ago. He looked quite morose, and seemed ill. He was using a nasal oxygen cannula, which he removed often in order to smoke a cigarette (which was in violation of the convention hall’s rules, but no one said anything).
I remember him from his frequent appearences on the Dean Martin show. As a kid of 6 or so, Frank Gorshin and Rich Little were my favorites among all the guests Dean had.
In my opinion, Gorshin’s greatest performance was during one of the MTV Movie Awards shows, during which he and Adam West re-enacted scenes from all the movies nominated.
Gorshin and West as Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as Louis and Lestat in a homoerotic scene from Interview with a Vampire. It was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen.
True, but he wasn’t as adversely affected as Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall, who reached their career-long dream of appearing on the Sullivan show – and meeting Frank Gorshin! – the night the Beatles first appeared.
That This American Life segment is really good. And it features a bit of Gorshin’s act, if I recall correctly, so this hijack isn’t completely off the wall…
Damn. He was the best Batman villain ever. All the others were more or less genial eccentrics, but he always seemed to be genuinely unhinged, capering and squealing and hugging himself.
I have a couple of recordings he did for the theater, notably GIRL CRAZY from 1990, made by the Library of Congress as the official archival recording of this early Gershwin work. He’s just a terrific character singer and actor. A true Renaissance man.