Frank Gorshin

Frank Gorshin's manic portrayal of the Riddler in the 1966 television series Batman was directly responsible for transforming the character from a minor comic-book villain into one of Batman's main recurring foes.

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He is regarded as one of Hollywood's finest impressionists.

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He was the only cast member of the 1966 television series Batman to receive an Emmy Award nomination for the show.

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His last job before his death was a guest appearance in Grave Danger: Part 1 (2005), directed by Quentin Tarantino and the first half of the series' fifth-season finale. He died two days before the episode aired. Ironically, the famous impressionist's final role was a portrayal of himself.

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Two days before 17-year-old Frank Gorshin's first stage appearance, his 15-year-old brother died in a car accident.

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He was one of Ed Sullivan's guests on the famous February 9, 1964 show that featured The Beatles' first American appearance.

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He served in the United States Army for two years, from 1953 to 1955, as an entertainer in Special Services.

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He was a close friend of Adam West and Julie Newmar.

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Gorshin's last live performance was a Memphis engagement of Say Goodnight, Gracie, in which he portrayed George Burns. He finished the show and boarded a flight to Los Angeles on April 25, 2005. After suffering severe breathing difficulty during the flight, the crew administered emergency oxygen. An ambulance met the plane on landing and took him to a Burbank hospital, where he died of lung cancer, with emphysema and pneumonia, on May 17, 2005, at the age of 72.

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Gorshin's final television appearance was in "Grave Danger," an episode of the CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation that aired two days after his death; the episode, directed by Quentin Tarantino, was dedicated to his memory.

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After his death, he was buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh, PA.

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In the film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, he did an impression of Jack Nicholson. Gorshin and Nicholson both played famous Batman villains: the Riddler and the Joker.

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He was a heavy smoker until his death.

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He attended the Carnegie-Mellon Tech Drama School (now Carnegie-Mellon University).

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He is best known to the public for his role as the Riddler in the 1966 television series Batman.

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His father was a railroad worker and his mother was a seamstress.

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He attended and graduated from Peabody High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Gorshin was a heavy smoker for most of his adult life, consuming as many as five packs of cigarettes a day.

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He died just four days before the Riddler, voiced by Robert Englund, first appeared in the animated series The Batman (2004).

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He auditioned for the role of Cookie in the musical comedy G. I. Blues (1960), which went to Robert Ivers.

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For decades, Gorshin called the celebrity-filled town of Westport, CT, his home.

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He was the father of Mitchell Gorshin and the grandfather of Brandon Gorshin.

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He was the eldest of three children born to Frank John Sr. and Frances Gorshin.

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On August 5, 1957, he was seriously injured in a single-car accident near Stroud, Oklahoma. As he passed another car, his right front tire blew out, causing his car to skid about 250 feet, roll over and throw him from the vehicle.

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