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Frank John Gorshin Jr. (April 5, 1933 – May 17, 2005) was an American actor, comedian and impressionist. He made many guest appearances on television variety and , including The Ed Sullivan Show, Tonight Starring Steve Allen, The Dean Martin Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
As an actor, he played the Riddler on the Live action television series Batman and was nominated for an Emmy Award for the performance.
In an interview, Frances said that her son, being the product of a Slovenian home, spoke mostly Slovene before going to school. At the age of 15, he took a part-time job as a cinema usher at the Sheridan Square Theatre. He memorized the mannerisms of the screen stars he saw and created an impressionist act. He was still in high school when he obtained his first paid employment, which he secured as the prize in a Pittsburgh talent contest in 1951: a one-week engagement at Jackie Heller's New York nightclub, Carousel. His parents insisted that he take the engagement, even though his 15-year-old brother had been hit by a car and killed just two nights before.
After graduation from Peabody High School, Gorshin attended the Carnegie Tech School of Drama (now known as Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh. When not studying, he worked in local plays and nightclubs.
In 1953, Gorshin was drafted into the United States Army and posted to Germany. He served for a year and a half as an entertainer attached to Special Services. While in the Army, Gorshin met Maurice Bergman, who later introduced him to Hollywood agent Paul Kohner. Gorshin's Army service record was later destroyed in the U.S. National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973.
Gorshin was a popular act at nightclubs, notably those of Las Vegas, where he was the first impressionist to headline the main showrooms. He was also the first impressionist headliner at the Empire Room of New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Among his most popular impressions were of Burt Lancaster (exaggerating Lancaster's hand gestures) and Kirk Douglas (exaggerating Douglas' gritted teeth), as well as Marlon Brando (spoofing his squint). He was also popular for simulating bodily and facial resemblances, and pitch-perfect imitations of voice, accent, and vocal inflections and mannerisms. Gorshin's slender athletic build, wide mouth, and pale eyes under strong brows were ideal characteristics for screen henchmen.
In 1957, he was in a car crash when he fell asleep at the wheel of his car after driving from Pittsburgh for 39 hours without sleep. He was on his way to a Hollywood screen test for the role of Petty Officer Ruby in Run Silent, Run Deep. He sustained a fractured skull and spent four days in a coma; a Los Angeles newspaper incorrectly reported he had been killed. The role went to Don Rickles.
Gorshin's first film role was Between Heaven and Hell. In the late 1950s, Gorshin had roles in B-movies such as Hot Rod Girl (1956), Dragstrip Girl (1957) and Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957). In 1960, he was featured in Bells are Ringing, playing the Method Actor while doing a Marlon Brando impression. As a dramatic actor, he often played "tough guys" like those played by one of his favorite targets of impressions, James Cagney, whom he was said to resemble. He did take a comic turn, though, as the hipster jazz bassist Basil (paired with singer Connie Francis) in Where the Boys Are (1960), as a bumbling kidnapper in the Hayley Mills vehicle That Darn Cat! (1965), and as a boss-behind-bars for laughs in Otto Preminger's comedy Skidoo (1968).
In 1962, Gorshin was cast as Billy Roy Fix in the episode "The Fire Dancer" of the NBC modern Western television series Empire, starring Richard Egan as the rancher Jim Redigo.
From 1966 to 1968, Gorshin played the Riddler on ABC's 1960s live-action television series Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, and was nominated for an Emmy Award (Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy). Gorshin's portrayal of the character included a high-pitched, deranged cackle, inspired by that of Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) in Kiss of Death (1947). Gorshin disliked the Riddler's original unitard costume from the comics, and had a green business suit and bowler hat marked with question marks created as an alternative, a variant of which would be later adapted in the comics itself. He played the Riddler in ten episodes as well as the 1966 theatrical film, but a pay dispute with ABC prior to season 2 resulted in him being replaced by John Astin for two episodes. Gorshin was very angry about being replaced by Astin, but he agreed to return in Season 3 in an episode entitled "Ring Around The Riddler". He reprised the role in the 1979 television film Legends of the Superheroes.
Gorshin also had a memorable role in the 1969 episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" as the bigoted half-whiteface, half-blackface alien Bele from the planet Cheron. Contrary to popular rumor and several news articles, Gorshin did not receive an Emmy nomination for this role.
In the early 1970s, Gorshin appeared on Broadway theatre in Jimmy (1969) and Guys and Dolls (1971). He made numerous guest-starring appearances on such television series as The Name of the Game (1969) Ironside (1974), Hawaii Five-O (1974), Get Christie Love! (1975), Charlie's Angels (1977) and Wonder Woman (1977). In 1979, he played interplanetary assassin Seton Kellogg in a two-part episode of the television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century titled "Plot to Kill a City".
In 1982, Gorshin acted and sang the role of irascible King Gama in a TV production of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Princess Ida, as part of the PBS series The Compleat Gilbert and Sullivan, and subsequently in live performance at other venues.
He also appeared as the villainous Dan Wesker in the miniseries Goliath Awaits (1981); and played the role of Smiley Wilson on the ABC soap opera The Edge of Night (1981–82), where he used his impersonation talents to mimic other performers on the series. During this decade, he also guest starred in episodes of series such as The Fall Guy (1984), Murder, She Wrote (1988) and Monsters (1989).
During the 1990s, he featured as a mobster kingpin in The Meteor Man (1993), played the evil sorcerer Brother Septimus in "The Tale of the Carved Stone" episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1993), voiced the character of Reverend Jack Cheese in an episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show (1995). Notably, he appeared in Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys (1995) as the gruff superior to Madeleine Stowe's psychiatrist. Gorshin also provided the voice of Daffy Duck and Foghorn Leghorn in the 1996 Looney Tunes short Superior Duck as well as voicing Foghorn and Yosemite Sam in 1997's Pullet Surprise and From Hare to Eternity, respectively.
In his final years, Gorshin portrayed the famous comedian George Burns on Broadway in the one-man show Say Goodnight, Gracie (2002), which was nominated for a 2003 Tony Award for best play and was reunited with several of his Batman colleagues in the television film , in which he appeared as himself. Gorshin died on the day of the telefilm's DVD release. He played the strict legendary Harvard Law School Professor, John H. Keynes, in the Korean drama Love Story in Harvard (2004), and voiced villain Hugo Strange in three 2005 episodes of The Batman animated series. He also voiced the characters Marius and Lysander in the computer role playing game Diablo II.
Gorshin's last television appearance was in "Grave Danger", an episode of the CBS series which aired two days after his death; the episode, which was directed by Quentin Tarantino, was dedicated to his memory. While he was known for his impressions, his role on CSI was as himself.
Gorshin's final role was as a voice actor in the unreleased animated feature film Firedog.
Gorshin is interred at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in the Hazelwood section of Pittsburgh.
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| Episode: "Decoy" |
| Episode: "Operation Lend Lease Adti: Amscray!" |
| Episode: "Duel at Lockwood" |
| Episode: "The Thresher Story" |
| Episode: "The Doctor Joseph Frye Story" |
| 3 episodes |
| Episode: "The Streger Affair" |
| Episode: "Sons of Aaron Murdock" |
| Episode: "Shadow of Belle Starr" |
| Episode:"The Last Laugh" |
| Episode:"The Hundred Lives of Harry Simms" |
| Episode: "The Killer" |
| Episode: "The Pea" |
| Episode: "The Medal" |
| Episode: "Beyond This Place There Be Dragons" |
| Season 2 Episode 30: "The Second Verdict" |
| Episode: "Episode #1.23" |
| Episode: "The Hell Machine" |
| Episode: "The Clown" |
| Episode - 11-25-1966 |
| Episode: "Herman, the Tire Kicker" |
| Episode: "Episode #1.14" |
| Episode: "Episode #4.11" |
| Episode: "What Did You Do in the Dump, Daddy?" |
| Episode: "#2.3 & #2.21" |
| Episode: "Episode #1.11" |
| 10 episodes |
| Episode: "Thieves' Holiday" |
| Episode: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" |
| Episode: "Stinky Flanagan" |
| Episode: "12-9-1969" |
| Episode: "Follow the Leader" |
| Episode: "The Kopykats" |
| Episode: "The Challenger" |
| Episode: "Operation: Bribery" |
| Episode: "Salute to Horror" |
| 2 episodes |
| 5 episodes |
| 7 episodes |
| Episode: "Borrowed Trouble" |
| Episode: "What's New with Mark?" |
| Episode: "Good for Laughs" |
| Episode: "Welcome to Our Branch Office" |
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| Episode: "Ordeal" |
| Episode: "Glitter with a Bullet" |
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| Episode: Episode #2.138" |
| Episode: "Angels at Sea" |
| Episode: "The Deadly Toys" |
| Episode: "The Story of Moses" |
| Episode: "The Challenge" |
| Television film |
| Episode: "The Plot to Kill a City" |
| Television film |
| Television film |
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| Episode: "Mourning Among the Wisterias" |
| Episode: "5-30-1988" |
| Episode: "4-28-1988" |
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| Episode: "The Tale of the Carved Stone" |
| Episode: "Whine, Whine, Whine" |
| Voice, episode: "Reverend Jack Cheese" A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. |
| Voice, episode: "Blarney Buddies" |
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| TV series documentary, Episode: "Superheroes" |
| Episode: "Adam West: Behind the Cowl" |
| Episode: "Crime Time" |
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| Episode: "Catwoman: Her Many Lives" |
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| Episode: "Grave Danger" |
| Episode: "For Love or Money" |
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