Who would you pick to play Poison Ivy?

[Todd Smitts]

Poison Ivy was a relatively new adversary for Batman in the comic at the time of the show (wikipedia says she was introduced in 1966, same as the show), and in retrospect, it's a pity they never had her on the show. I think she would've fit right in:

We have a plant-based villainess who could commit plant-related crimes, like stealing some rare flowers or the priceless "Bloom Diamond" or something like that . She could have henchmen in green shirts that have names like LEAF, STALK, VINE, and ROOT. She could use some fast growing vines she bred herself to wrap themselves around the Dynamic Duo and incapacitate them. Best of all, we could have a cliff-hanger where they're going to be fed to a giant Venus Flytrap.

The episodes could have some fun titles like "Ivy League" and "Batman's Intrigue".

Question is, who do you think back then would've been a good pick to play her?

[High C]

All good ideas, Todd. And welcome to the board,

The question of which actress could/should have portrayed Poison Ivy back then has come up many times on various incarnations of this Bat-board. The popular answer tends to be Ann-Margret, but I've always said that if one looks at the movies she was doing at that time, she didn't yet have the maturity and gravitas, IMO, to be a Bat-villainess.

I would have preferred Tina Louise, famous for playing Ginger on Gilligan's Island [which was cancelled in 1967, so she would have been available in Season 3] PROVIDED she didn't play it as a Ginger clone. Given the fact she wanted to distance herself from Ginger, I think she would have done that if she played Ivy. My second choice from that era would be Jill St. John.

[epaddon]

My own personal pick for the best possible Poison Ivy is an actress named Barbara Rhoades, who co-starred in the Don Knotts comedy "The Shakiest Gun In The West" and was later a mainstay of the TV guest star circuit all through the 1970s (and today at 65 she still looks amazing). Barbara was not only a redhead, she had a tall Amazonian presence at nearly six foot high that could allow her to be naturally intimidating to anyone.

The one caveat to her though is that Barbara did not make her official "debut" until 1967 on several TV shows and then the Knotts movie in 1968 so she would have still been too much of an unknown quantity at the time Batman was still on. However, if the show had made it to a fourth season and also stayed on the air to as late as 1970, I think she would have entered the radar screen as an ideal choice for Ivy. Even though she's actually much younger than Ann-Margret (born 1947) she already had an incredible maturity and gravitas beyond her years at this point that A-M (where I agree with High C) simply did not have then (A-M, IMO only got rid of her lingering Bye Bye Birdie innocence and acquired the necessary gravitas around 1975. She would have been great Ivy casting for a late 1970s Batman project but not late 1960s)

[Catfan]

Poison Ivy made her debut in the Batman comic book in June 1966, during the run of the First Season. Yes, it would have been great had she been able to be in the show. Had she, Tina Louise would be my first pick, but I would also have considered Raquel Welch, Jane Fonda, Luciana Paluzzi (maybe) and Suzy Parker (definitely, photo from 1965 below).

[Scott Sebring]

This character keeps coming up amongst the "Why didn't they?" category. Although she debuts in 1966 in a two part comic story, she wasn't exactly a smash hit. She doesn't make another appearance until 1969 and then doesn't appear again until 8 years later in 1977. Before "Crisis" happens in 1984, she manages to have made a total of 9 comic appearances. Actually, one of those was a cameo and the other was only a mention.

Hindsight is a funny thing.

Signalman, The Spook and Doctor Double-X made many more appearances than her by the time the show was in production. Why not them?

Just saying.

Tina Louise would have been cool but I think her ego would have probably snubbed the offer during that time. I mean, this is the same person who was miffed to find out that the show "Gilligan's' Island" didn't circle around her character.

[epaddon]

For those who don't know who Barbara Rhoades was, here's a shot of her that best captures her in Ivy mode from the short-lived 1978 sitcom "Quark".

[dell]

Tina Louise would have been cool but I think her ego would have probably snubbed the offer during that time. I mean, this is the same person who was miffed to find out that the show "Gilligan's' Island" didn't circle around her character.

Excellent point Scott. I read somewhere that at one point during the production of the first few shows Sherwood Schwartz (or someone else) had to very firmly point out to Tina Loiuse that the show was called Gilligan's Island and that Ginger was not the central character.

[High C]

Good point, Scott, about Tina having a reputation for being a bit of a diva, to use a term not in use then. Of course, they could have used 'George waGGner' as the director, and he could have kept her in line the way he did Otto Preminger. [Of course, he also, according to Adam, berated Joan Collins for no good reason even though she wasn't acting like a diva. Only her character was!]

[epaddon]

My #2 choice for Ivy is one a little out of left-field because she's not a name one ordinarily associates with femme fatale sex symbol and also because she was already 42 years old in 1967, and that's Lee Grant.

At the time, Lee was still doing mostly TV guest shots including a good one on "The Big Valley" where her scene as a saloon girl showed how she was quite stunning at the time and also could easily pass for a woman ten years less than she actually was. Plus, Lee had a genuinely nasty evil bent to her, which she showed to great effect in the second "Columbo" pilot movie a few years later. A few years later, she'd win the Oscar for the movie "Shampoo."

[Batfan 66]

Having not been around in that era, (or even close). I cannot give as good of an answer as the others, but I would still like to say...

I love Gilligans Island, and I agree with the thought of Tina Louise as Ivy, but after seeing her portrayal of Ginger and having that imprint in my mind, I wonder if she would be able to be a good Batman Villainess? (meaning, would people be able to separate Ginger from Tina?)

I don't have but one suggestion, and that is Gates McFadden, who played a role on Star Trek. I think she would be able to portray a villain well, and also has the right 'look'. I mean she is different than the Debbie Reynolds look.

Whenever people mention redheads I get real excited because alas, I am a redhead! My favorite redheads of that era are June Lockhart and Tina Louise. But back to topic.
I also remember seeing "The Shakiest Gun In the West"; you have a great point there epaddon,
And Todd, those are some awesome ideas, and I would like to welcome you to the board

[Chief OHara]

Ann Margret

[Todd Smitts]

It was about 20 years too soon for Gates McFadden, but Ann Margret or Ginger from Gilligan's island sounds good. Someone told me Natalie Wood wanted to be on the show as well.

[Batman1962]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Barbara Eden. On "I Dream Of Jeannie" her character was sweet and a bit naive, but she also played Jeannie's sister, "Jeannie II"... and THAT character had a definite mean streak. Here's a YouTube clip showing Barbara as both Jeannie and Jeannie II:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk29K1f9X7w

[epaddon]

I think no one would mention her because stars of current series as a general rule never did guest shots on other shows, especially ones airing on another network, and with IDOJ overlapping Batman in full, that takes Eden out of the equation as a remotely realistic possibility.

I've always felt that when considering these kinds of fantasy casting there needs to be some consideration in terms of how plausible such a name would have been at that point in time. This is why for instance, Ann-Margret is a non-starter for me even beyond the fact that I think she was lacking in gravitas for the part, because those who had thriving film careers at that point never did episodic TV. The only exception to this rule I have ever come across in the 1960s is Jill St. John, who had a way of moving back and forth between leading lady film roles and doing TV guest shots (which I think also accounts for why she got a "special guest star" billing ahead of Frank Gorshin in the pilot).

Likewise, the only star of a then-active TV series I can envision doing a Batman guest shot is Barbara Stanwyck as a superior Black Widow possibility, because "The Big Valley" was on the same network and also because Stanwyck frequently skipped appearing in several episodes per season to allow for some episodes to spotlight other stars in the cast. So that makes the idea of her doing the show plausible on top of the fact that I think she would have been better in the part than Tallulah Bankhead.

It's because I recognize that my ideal choice for Poison Ivy, Barbara Rhoades, could not realistically have done the show unless it was still on in 1969, that I have to look for names who could have been on a 1967 casting sheet, which is why I go with Lee Grant first and then Tina Louise in that order.

[Gothamite]

I kinda like Marilyn Hanolds as Doe in the Liberace two-parter. Maybe she can had play a special guest in an episode...
Special Guest Villainess
MARILYN HANOLD
as
POISON IVY