new female villians

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

Moderators: Scott Sebring, Ben Bentley

Mr Chronos
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 11:25 am

new female villians

Post by Mr Chronos »

Hey guys, just had a thought of who the producers could have brought in to use as a female comic book villian. The obvious one is Poison Ivy played by one of Tina Louise, Sherry Jackson or Deanna Lund!

Also, i've heard that Dozier thought about a female crook called the Silver Fox. Either have someone like Barbara Bouchet, Celleste Yarnell or even Yvonne as a villian. She would have been great as a bad girl. Costume like Catwoman but Silver with Fox mask. Hideout called The Den etc... Who do you think could have been used as a real foe in a two-parter sense? :?: :?:
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: new female villians

Post by elmrgraham »

I think that Poison Ivy,The Silver Fox,and the 1966 Scuba Diving Villainess from the Batman Topps Card number 14a:"Danger In The Depths" The Sea Hag would been excellent two part adversaries for The Dynamic Duo.
wayoutjunk
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:15 am

Re: new female villians

Post by wayoutjunk »

I seem to remember reading somewhere that one of the proposed Batman villains was Lady Macbeth.
robinboyblunderer
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:15 pm

Re: new female villians

Post by robinboyblunderer »

For Poison Ivy, I think Sherry Jackson would've been great and for something different, have her have an interest in Robin.

I never heard about the Silver Fox but she sounds like a good villain on the show; I like the fox mask, the den, etc. Sure, it's derivative of Catwoman but sounds better than Olga. Or Lola. Or Cassandra.

Lady Macbeth could've been the female version of King Tut. Different period of time, have crimes based on 11th century items and Shakespearean themes. Henchmen dressed in period outfits, etc. Maybe what the Minstrel could've been without the focus on technology.

The Sea Hag could've worked as a water themed villainess.
robinboyblunderer
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:15 pm

Re: new female villians

Post by robinboyblunderer »

http://martingrams.blogspot.com/2011/05 ... eries.html


Mentions some of the proposed villains supposedly, one of which is Lady Macbeth.
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: new female villians

Post by elmrgraham »

Zale Parry would have been excellent as The Sea Hag.
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: new female villians

Post by elmrgraham »

Lady MacBeth could have been played by a Sixties British Actress.
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: new female villians

Post by elmrgraham »

The Sea Hag could have used an abandoned water marina as her criminal hideout.
User avatar
Riddler 66
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:17 pm

Re: new female villians

Post by Riddler 66 »

While I am VERY fond of Sherry Jackson and Deanna Lund on the series, neither have the name value to have been a "Special Guest Villain". There was talk at one point of Natalie Wood considering the show, she could have easily made a very good Poison Ivy. Diana Rigg would have been superb as Lady Macbeth, I have my doubts she would have done it, but imagine!
The trigger: one of my riddles!
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: new female villians

Post by elmrgraham »

I agree that her crimes could have been water themed.Her henchmen and henchwomen could have been dressed as Scuba Divers.Their speciality would have been stealing Gems and Money.The goal of The Sea Hag would have been like Poison Ivy,The Silver Fox,and Lady MacBeth:Queen of The Criminal Underworld.
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: new female villians

Post by elmrgraham »

I agree that Diana Rigg would have been excellent as Lady MacBeth.
elmrgraham
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:25 am

Re: new female villians

Post by elmrgraham »

Sivi Aberg would have also been excellent as The Sea Hag.
User avatar
High C
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:01 am

Re: new female villains

Post by High C »

This is a good idea for a thread. I'll skip the oft-proposed Sea Hag idea, which was not feasible, as I've explained numerous times on this board, from the standpoints of budget, shooting sked, casting, etc.

So I'll turn my attention toward other hypotheticals that had a much greater likelihood of taking place:

Agree with Riddler 66 that Jackson and Lund didn't have the name recognition to be considered by Dozier. My suggestions for Poison Ivy would be either Tina Louise or Jill St. John.

While it's true Jill was doing movies by 1967, she obviously was terrific in the pilot and thus had a pre-existing relationship with the show. She also was good friends with Adam. It's not unrealistic to think she could have been coaxed back to play a starring role in Poison Ivy, who was created in 1966. Honestly, I think the obvious choice had they used Poison Ivy would have been Tina, who was just coming off Gilligan's Island before season 3. But if she were cast, I would hope that she wouldn't have made Ivy just a Ginger variation. We'll never know, of course.

Anne Francis. Coming off Honey West, where her private eye character had a pet ocelot, maybe she could have been Silver Fox, whatever that would have been. I also think she could've been a better Marsha, Queen of Diamonds.

Dana Wynter. Dana, a Fox contract player in the late 1950s at the same time as Joan Collins, often 'played' much the same as Joan on screen--a beautiful Brit who also could be cold and calculating. She was one of very few women to actually play a female mastermind on The Wild, Wild West. [Most of the female guests on the show were henchmolls or damsels in distress]. I see her as a glamorous socialite jewel thief. Or perhaps a younger, slightly hipper Lady Peasoup? This time, MARRIED to [let's end the confusion once and for all] a younger Ffogg. (English actor James Mason, who wanted to do the show, was 8 years younger than crotchety American Rudy Vallee.)

Lee Meriwether. Take the oversized, silly Olga character and meld her with the Miss Kitka alter ego Meriwether played in the movie, and I think you've got something, a Cold War type of Soviet [or nameless, made-up eastern European country] villainess. Only problem is it's not slapstick enough for what the show had become by season 3.

Antoinette Bower. A European actress who did plenty of villainess and temptress guest shots in the 1960s and 1970s, including two roles as alien temptresses in 1967, on Star Trek and The Invaders. Forget about Joker's UFO---let's bring in a real alien villainess!!

Anne Bancroft. I first suggested this in the Burt Ward/The Graduate thread. Anne Bancroft was just about to play that world-weary seductress, Mrs. Robinson, but this idea isn't all that far-fetched as that of some movie stars. She actually made one TV appearance in 1967, in an anthology series called ABC Stage 67.

Shirley Jones was interested in playing a villainess, per a Dozier memo. Can't think of anything for her at the moment but am open to suggestions. She was my favorite TV mom of the late 1960s-early 1970s.

Also will have to think about who could have been cast as Lady Macbeth.
'I thought Siren was perfect for Joan.'--Stanley Ralph Ross, writer of 'The Wail of the Siren'

My hobbies include gazing at the Siren and doing her bidding, evil or otherwise.

'She had a devastating, hypnotic effect on all the men.'--A schoolmate describing Joan Collins at age 17
User avatar
epaddon
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:09 am

Re: new female villians

Post by epaddon »

Poison Ivy is a character we know was being considered as a subordinate originally for CW in what later evolved into the Pussycat character. Even if it had remained Ivy, we would have seen a very wrongheaded approach of Ivy as some young pupil type which isn't the right template at all. Ivy needed to be a stand-alone guest villainess or barring that a top level tough henchlady to a male criminal and on a higher caliber from the usual henchmoll/henchlady.

Although I believe the greatest dead solid perfect casting for Ivy would have been Barbara Rhoades, that wasn't going to happen while the show was on the air since her career was barely getting started at the time. Though if the show is still on the air in 1969-70, then I think she would have been on the radar screen and Dozier would have taken a chance on her by then.

But as for an Ivy during the time the show was on the air I have two names to consider, one for Ivy as lead villainess, one for Ivy as top henchlady.

For the lead villainess, Lee Grant. She was 40 at the time but could pass for a decade younger, and had loads of gravitas, not to mention later success as a nasty villainess in the second "Columbo" pilot movie in 1971. She was also incidentally offered the part of the female Romulan commander for the classic Trek episode "The Enterprise Incident" but unfortunately turned it down. That at least showed how casting people were seeing her as a viable possibility for a sexy villainess type role then.

For Ivy as henchlady, my choice is a somewhat forgotten actress today, but who was a big name on the TV guest circuit at the time and had some feature roles in films in the 50s too, Kipp Hamilton. She was basically in terms of look and attitude, Barbara Rhoades when there wasn't a Barbara Rhoades yet and her TV credits included a villainess on "Wild, Wild West." Those who only know of her from a certain Toho monster flick, "War Of The Gargantuas" have not seen what she was capable of delivering as she proved in her other work.
robinboyblunderer
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 2:15 pm

Re: new female villians

Post by robinboyblunderer »

I like Tina Louise as Poison Ivy though I figure they'd have been sorely tempted to have her do evil Ginger. Still would've been enjoyable, though.

Jill St. John would've been good to.

Oh, I don't care about star power, just based on appearance and attitude as Pauline, Sherry Jackson just would've been great.

I don't know if I'd ever have enjoyed an Olga-esque character but the Lee Merriweather, Kitka influenced version sounds like an improvement.

To digress, they bring Egghead back and instead of a great battle of will between him and Batman, he's the henpecked boyfriend, getting knocked out by her chef! Wretched. If they had to team him up with Olga, he should've been using her as a pawn. But really, he should've been the main villain, sans Olga. Oh well.

I wonder what the idea was for Rita the Ripper? A rip-off artist maybe? Something to do with cutting? Sounds a bit harsh for the show, maybe that's why it went nowhere.

The Dancer sounded like another interesting potential criminal. I suppose you could have a lot of variety based on the different types of dancing styles over time. Sounds like a perfectly campy villainess for the show. Another opportunity for some Batusi action, too.

It would be great if this archival info would be disseminated one day, though that sounds like a huge project.
Post Reply