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Lorenzo Semple Jr., the guy that create the classic Batman TV series that stars the like of Adam West and Burt Ward died. Reports claimed that he died from natural death.
The prolific screenwriter gives way to intelligent films and TV series, which include the likes of Dino De Laurentiis’ 1976 “King Kong,” the Warren Beatty-starring thriller “The Parallax View,” Sydney Pollack’s “Three Days of the Condor,” the 1980 cult darling “Flash Gordon” and the James Bond movie “Never Say Never Again.,”
According to reports, Semple died Friday at his home in Brentwood of natural causes. He was born on March 27, 1923 and he celebrated his birthday before dying the next day. His wife, Joyce; daughters Maria and Johanna; son Lorenzo; and six grandchildren are his plaintiffs.
Back in 2010, Hero Complex contributor, Susan King did an interview with him, asking about the start of the Batman TV series that gave way to many comic heroes coming into the TV and movie. Semple remembered that he was approached by producer William Dozier because the latter was planning to develop an ABC television series based on the “Batman” comic book.
Semple said that he got a call from Bill (William Dozer) to meet him in Madrid. When he met him at Madrid, Bill pulled out a copy of a comic book ‘Batman’ and said that they need to do a TV series of the cape crusader.
Afterwards, he had written the first four episodes and then become the series’ executive story editor for the rest of its run. Back in those days, people were not used to acting that much so they make use of the comic-book-inspired “Bam!” and “Pow!” graphics in the show’s fight scenes.
Right after Bill showed him the book, he immediately knew how to do it. There was no network to support them yet, but he had written the script. When they showed it to the ABC, they liked the concept and decided to take it. It all began without a pilot and scheduled it without a pilot.
Lately, Semple did team up with former producer Marcia Nasatir (“The Big Chill,” “Vertical Limit”) for a movie review YouTube series called “Reel Geezers.” The series serves as a critic for some movies.
Despite having the enthusiasm to the industry, he tried to keep the TV and movies in perspective. Saying no one was changed by a movie. The screenwriters don’t make much impression in the world like the way painters or novelists do.
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