The Riddler # 2
John Astin
Well,
There you have 3 Million Dollars,
and I have Gotham City right by the throat !
The Riddler, a meddling evil villain that always had a trick up his sleeve !
In the series, the second Riddler
was played
by John Astin.
John came in to replace Frank Gorshin as the Riddler due to
what was rumored as a dispute between
the producers and Gorshin about money. The
producers held fast and Gorshin was replaced.
John was just not as good as an evil, crazy villain as Frank Gorshin so his performance was met with a dismal response. In the next appearance of " The Riddler" , the producers convinced Frank Gorshin to come back for one more time.
John was best known for his portrayal of Gomez Addams in the "Addams
Family"
from 1964 thru the 1966 seasons
on ABC. The show directly competed with "The Munsters" on CBS for ratings
in the same time slot. After the cancellation of the series, John did guest shots
on many shows including Batman. It was pretty interesting to note that many of
the the stars of " the Addams Family popped up on ABC's Batman- Carolyn
Jones was "Marcia The Queen of Diamonds " and even Ted Cassidy as "Lurch"
was in a cameo on a Bat Climb !
Click Here To Visit " The Addams Family !!
Here is His Biography !!
Born on March 30, 1930 in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Washington, D.C., John Astin was originally interested in becoming a mathematician. But while he was majoring in math at Washington and Jefferson College, John developed an interest in drama when he appeared in the school play. While earning a graduate degree in drama at the University of Minnesota, John appeared in dozens of plays, both in school and in community theater.
In the mid-1950s he arrived in New York, and struggled to get acting jobs. He finally had to settle as a theater sweeper for an Off-Broadway production of "The Threepenny Opera,"--which led to a role in the play and to the introduction to his first wife, an actress named Suzanne Hahn. The need to earn extra bucks led John to doing cartoon voices for TV commercials. Then his friend and colleague Tony Randall encouraged him to move to Hollywood, promising that his agent would help him get work. John soon landed roles in such motion pictures as "West Side Story" and "That Touch of Mink," appearing on classic TV series such as "The Twilight Zone" and "Dennis the Menace."
But his first starring role in Tinseltown was on the short-lived TV series "I'm Dickens...He's Fenster," in which he played Harry Dickens, a hapless construction worker opposite Marty Ingels' Fenster. This led directly to his most-remembered part, Gomez Addams on "The Addams Family." (Oddly, the producers of that show originally wanted him to play the role of Lurch, the butler.)
After the series ended in 1966, John continued to appear in motion pictures, most notably as twin brothers in the vastly underrated psychedelic satire "Candy." Television also provided the actor with plenty of work, offering him guest appearances in such series as "The Flying Nun," "Gunsmoke," "The Doris Day Show," "Love American Style," "The Partridge Family," "The Odd Couple," and "Batman," where he succeeded Frank Gorshin in the role of The Riddler.
John became a TV director as well, for episodes of "Night Gallery," "CHiPs" and "Holmes and Yoyo." He was also a regular on three post-Addams sitcoms: "The Pruitts of Southampton" (1967), "Operation Petticoat" (1977) and "Mary" (1985), Mary Tyler Moore's extremely short-lived series about a tabloid newspaper.
Yet John Astin's true love continues
to be theater, where he still makes regular
appearances. A second marriage, to Classic TV star Patty Duke in 1972, ended
in divorce in the early 1980s.
Thanks to Brad Hughes in Toronto for the episode tape !!!!
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