Posted By Dan Greenfield on Apr 5, 2026 | 1 comment

A BIRTHDAY SALUTE…

By PETER BOSCH

It is good and proper that Frank Gorshin wore a large question mark on his costume as the Riddler in the epic first episode of the 1966 Batman TV series. Many people – especially us kids – had no idea who he was before that night. It’s even likely some of us thought he was a new actor — without realizing that Gorshin was already accomplished, with a decade’s experience on TV, in the movies, and in Las Vegas (opening for the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Red Skelton, and Judy Garland!).

But who was Frank Gorshin before the Riddler (and after)? Since it’s the late entertainer’s birthday today — he was born April 5, 1933 — this is a good chance to look back and find out.

He was born Frank John Gorshin Jr. in Pittsburgh, the son of a railroad worker and a seamstress. That’s all good but let’s jump ahead to a bunch of kids coming out of a movie house, trying to imitate the star of the picture, the great James Cagney. Frank did it a little harder than the others. He would later become an usher at the same theater, watching films over and over during their runs. A boring job for some… but for Frank, it meant having the chance to study in detail the mannerisms and voices of the actors onscreen. He got to be so good at mimicry that he won a local talent contest when he was 17 years old. The prize was a week’s spot performing in a New York nightclub.

Just another small leap forward, this time to 1953 when Gorshin enlisted in the Army. He was assigned to the Special Services division, which handled entertainment for troops stationed abroad, and became part of the USO shows in Europe. While overseas, he met Maurice Bergman, who worked for Universal Pictures. It was through Bergman, after Gorshin left the service in 1955, that he got the introduction to a talent agent. The following year, Gorshin would appear in four movies, as well as having a small walk-on part as a page in an episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents television series.

Jump to the 3:14 mark to see Gorshin as a studio page. June 10, 1956.

Just three days after the Hitchcock episode aired, people could see Gorshin on the silver screen for the first time in 1956’s The Proud and Profane (though his role would not receive credit).

Gorshin makes his big-screen debut at the 03:17 mark in this clip.

For the next decade, he would appear regularly in movies (20 of them before being cast in Batman). In many of the early pictures, he could be found playing street punks and Western villains, but also on occasion, a good guy.

Hot Rod Girl (1956):

He even does a James Cagney imitation in this clip. 

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The Delicate Delinquent (1957):

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He finally made his way up to third billing, even though it was in a cheap sci-fi film of the Fifties: Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957).

There was one film that he failed to get — due to dire circumstances. Gorshin was to have a screen test in Hollywood for Run Silent, Run Deep, a 1958 submarine thriller that would star Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. He drove back from Pittsburgh where he had been visiting his family but fell asleep at the wheel and crashed. He ended up in a hospital with a fractured skull and he was in a coma for four days. Apparently, the Los Angeles Times even reported he had died. Don Rickles got the role.

Gorshin liked playing serious characters in films (he said in interviews that he considered himself an actor first, and then an entertainer), but he loved making an audience laugh. He got that chance in movies, too, with films such as these…

Bells Are Ringing (1960):

At 02:35 in this video clip, Gorshin does a hilarious takeoff of Marlon Brando.

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Where the Boys Are (1960):

Gorshin appeared in this comedy-drama as a very nearsighted jazz musician. In this clip, he hasn’t got his glasses and is practically blind! Watch as he absolutely steals the scene from the film’s stars.

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That Darn Cat! (1965):

Gorshin also racked up many TV credits during these years before Batman, including The Untouchables, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Detectives (a series that co-starred Adam West), and a featured guest role in an episode of The Defenders in which he played an impressionist charged with murder!

He was also a frequent performer (12 times!) on The Ed Sullivan Show, and was there the night the Beatles made their U.S. debut.

And then came Batman! Out of the entire cast of heroes and villains over the three years of the program, Gorshin was the only actor to get an Emmy nomination (for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy). He lost to Don Knotts in The Andy Griffith Show.

With the Riddler, Gorshin was now a hot property. In addition to becoming a regular member of The ABC Comedy Hour TV series The Kopykats (working with several other noted impressionists, including Rich Little, Marilyn Michaels, and George Kirby), he guest-starred for years in prime roles on The Virginian, Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, S.W.A.T., Police Woman, Charlie’s Angels, Wonder Woman, Murder She Wrote, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman — to name just a few. And let’s not forget his role in the memorable “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” episode of Star Trek.

Aired January 10, 1969.

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Gorshin was also called upon to appear as himself on many variety shows.

The Dean Martin Show, September 29, 1966:

In 1969, Broadway beckoned and he starred in the musical Jimmy, with Gorshin playing New York City’s mayor from 1926-1932, Jimmy Walker. A few decades later, in 2002, Frank Gorshin returned to the Great White Way in the one-man show Say Goodnight, Gracie, in which he portrayed famous comedian George Burns. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his performance and won the Outer Circle Critics Award.

In the ’70s, he even returned to the role that made him most famous — the Riddler, in the parody of a parody Legends of the Superheroes (1979):

Several years after the death of the magnificent voice artist Mel Blanc in 1989, Gorshin got a chance to supply the voices for three Warner Bros. shorts between 1996-1997, portraying Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, and Foghorn Leghorn. The best of these was Superior Duck (1996), which featured many of the studio’s best-loved cartoon characters — and which ended with the sudden appearance of Superman:

In the early 2000s, Gorshin turned to other voice work, playing Hugo Strange in three episodes of the animated program The Batman. He also played himself in the live-action TV film Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (2003).

In 2005, he got to play himself again in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation — which was directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Following its Broadway run, Gorshin would tour in Say Goodnight, Gracie in various theaters around the country, one of which was in Memphis in 2005. Following a performance there, he flew back to Los Angeles but started having breathing problems. Upon landing, he was taken to a hospital.

Three weeks later, on May 17, 2005, Frank Gorshin died from complications of lung cancer. He was 72 years old.

Say goodnight, Frank.

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MORE

— 13 QUICK THOUGHTS: The Greatness of FRANK GORSHIN’s RIDDLER. Click here.

— Dig This UP-CLOSE LOOK at an Original RIDDLER Costume. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is out now. (Buy it here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.