Geoff Duncan

Frank Gorshin died today following a battle with emphysema, pneumonia, and lung cancer. He was 72.

Gorshin is most famous for playing The Riddler in the campy 1960's live action Batman series (and movie) opposite Adam West. Gorshin's hyperactive portrayal redefined the villain as an A-list character, and earned the actor an Emmy nomination. (He'd receive another for his half black/half-white guest role on the original Star Trek episode "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield"—everyone seems to remember that one.)

Gorshin was a favorite of mine even as a kid. I first took to him in syndicated reruns of Batman and Star Trek, and later got a particular thrill when I recognized him in series like Ironside, Wonder Woman, S.W.A.T., Hawaii Five-O, Buck Rogers, and The Fall Guy. Years later, I nearly squealed (in a theater, no less!) when he appeared on screen in Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys—I had had no idea Gorshin appeared in the film, and (meaning no offense to The Mighty Bruce!) it was more thrilling for me than spotting the obligatory Bruce Campbell cameo in a Coen brothers' movie.

Gorshin had an odd career, starting off in film and television after a stint in the Army as an special services entertainer. He was just getting started when, driving from Pittsburg to Hollywood for an audition in 1957, Gorshin fell asleep at the wheel and crashed his car. He woke up with a fractured skull four days later in a hospital, not only to learn that not only had an L.A. paper reported him dead, but that he'd lost the role to Don Rickles! Nonetheless, Gorshin continued to pursue and land acting roles, including the original That Darn Cat and one which had him portraying a not-at-all-veiled Brando method actor. In ’58 Gorshin started appearing in clubs with his impressions—ranging from Jimmy Cagney and Edward G. Robinson to (in more recent years) Anthony Hopkins and Jack Nicholson—which led to gigs on the Steve Allen show and a dozen appearances on Ed Sullivan. But talk about being upstaged: Frank Gorshin once went on Ed Sullivan right before The Beatles!

Gorshin persevered, and his popularity skyrocketed in the 1960s with his Riddler performance. Gorshin become a Vegas headliner, adroitly proving he was the full package entertainment deal: acting, song, dance, comedy. And Gorshin could do drama and impressions at the same time: in 2002, he was nominated for a Tony award portraying George Burns in the one-man show "Say Goodnight, Gracie." And he did it with very little in the way of makeup. Small wonder Sammy Davis Jr. reportedly credited Gorshin with teaching him how to do impressions.

Like many quality actors these days, Gorshin in recent years turned in a substantial amount of voice work, contributing Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy Duck to Warner fare, and adding a few voices to the Diablo video game series (which a college friend of mine coincidentally worked on). Gorshin even had a voice character with old colleague Adam West in The Batman, Warner's current animated Batman outing.

Be that as it may. I never knew Frank Gorshin, but I always admired his work. He set a standard very few others can even hope to achieve. Thanks for showing us how it ought to be done.

Update 19-May-05: Apparently, Frank Gorshin's final television appearance will be tonight on the fifth season finalé of the Vegas-set crime drama CSI, directed by Quentin Tarantino. The episode also features retro icons Tony Curtis and John Saxon.