Detailed Biography

Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show . His most famous acting role was as The Riddler in the Batman live action television series.

Early life

Gorshin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Roman Catholic parents Frances, a seamstress, and Frank Gorshin, Sr., a railroad worker. 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 had 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-Mellon Tech School of Drama in Pittsburgh. When not studying, he worked in local plays and nightclubs. Gorshin's Department of Veterans Affairs Index Card

In 1953, Gorshin was drafted into the United States Army and was posted in Korea. He served for a year and a half as an entertainer attached to Special Services. His service number was 52314745; nearly all of Gorshin's official military records were destroyed in the 1973 National Archives Fire. While in the Army, Gorshin met Maurice Bergman, who later introduced him to Hollywood agent Paul Kohner.

Career

When Gorshin left the Army, he returned to public performance, and in 1956, he became a prolific film actor. He also appeared as an actor and a guest on television shows, including twelve guest spots on The Ed Sullivan Show . He 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. Gorshin's slender athletic build, wide mouth, and pale eyes under strong brows were ideal characteristics for screen henchmen. In 1957, 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 part of 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 that he had been killed.

Gorshin's first film role was Between Heaven and Hell but his first memorable film role was in Bells are Ringing , playing the Method Actor while doing a Marlon Brando impression.

In 1966, he took on the role of The Riddler, for which he received an Emmy nomination. In 1968, he filmed his other Emmy-nominated role in an episode of Star Trek. He continued to make films and perform his nightclub act, with occasional breaks in the early 1970s to appear in Broadway shows. On the Nickelodeon anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark?, he played the evil sorcerer Brother Septimus in The Tale of the Carved Stone, which aired in 1993. Bele, Gorshin's other famous television role, from Star Trek: The Original Series, in the episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

He was nominated for an Emmy for his most famous role: as The Riddler in the Batman live action television series, in which he was clad in a bowler hat and iridescent green body suit decorated with question marks, and frequently uttered his now-famous high deranged cackle, inspired by Tommy Udo in 1947's Kiss of Death. He also had a memorable role in the 1969 Star Trek episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" as the half-whiteface, half-blackface Bele, for which he was again Emmy-nominated. Prior to that, he was a dramatic actor, often playing "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 bassist Basil in 1960's Where The Boys Are, and played a boss-behind-bars for laughs in Otto Preminger's 1968 comedy Skidoo.

Gorshin played a villain in the television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. In the feature-length episode "Plot to Kill a City", he played interplanetary assassin Seton Kellogg, a master of planning who leads his gang, the Legion of Death, to force a worker to sabotage an antimatter reactor near New Chicago in order to obliterate the entire area. Kellogg is aided by an alien bodyguard, Varek , who is capable of altering his molecular structure to pass through walls, a result of radiation absorbed when "his homeworld thought they'd won a nuclear war."

He made several appearances on CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show during the 1960s, including the February 9, 1964 broadcast in which The Beatles made their American debut. He appeared on Broadway, in Jimmy and Guys and Dolls . In 2002, he portrayed comedian George Burns on Broadway in the one-man show Say Goodnight, Gracie.

Gorshin's varied career included appearing as the villainous Mr. Wesker in the miniseries Goliath Awaits and as the cantankerous King Gama in the opera Princess Ida in 1982 as part of the PBS series The Compleat Gilbert and Sullivan. He costarred in Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys as the gruff superior to Madeleine Stowe's psychiatrist, and appeared as a mobster kingpin in The Meteor Man.

Gorshin played the strict legendary Harvard Law School Professor, John H. Keynes, in the 2004 Korean drama Love Story in Harvard.

Gorshin played the role of Smiley Wilson on the ABC soap opera The Edge of Night in 1983. The show used his talents to mimic other performers in the plot.

In 1995, Gorshin played the voice of Reverend Jack Cheese in an episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show.

Gorshin died on day of the DVD release of the TV movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt. Gorshin appeared as himself in this 2003 special that reunited the original stars of the Batman series. Gorshin voiced villain Hugo Strange in an episode of The Batman animated series, which aired in the series' second season on the WB. Gorshin died a few days before the newest incarnation of The Riddler first appeared in The Batman. After Gorshin's death, Strange was voiced by Richard Green. Gorshin also voiced the characters Marius and Lysander in the computer role playing game Diablo II.

Final performances and death

His last TV appearance was in "Grave Danger", an episode of the CBS-TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 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. His final performance in any medium was in Memphis, Tennessee, doing his Tony-nominated play "Say Goodnight Gracie". He finished his performance, left the theater and boarded a plane for LA. In Los Angeles, he was met by an ambulance that took him to the hospital, where he later died.

Gorshin died on May 17, 2005 at the age of 72 from lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia. He is interred at the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery in the Hazelwood section of Pittsburgh.