THR: Van Williams, who portrayed the masked crime-fighter The Green Hornet in a memorable but short-lived companion TV series to Batman in the 1960s, has died. He was 82.
The actor, who earlier played bachelor private eye Kenny Madison on two Warner Bros. Television detective series, Bourbon Street Beat and Surfside 6, died Nov. 29 of kidney failure at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., his wife of 57 years, Vicki, told The Hollywood Reporter. He had just one kidney since he was 25, she said.
In The Green Hornet, an adaptation of the radio serial that debuted in the 1930s, Williams starred as playboy editor/publisher Britt Reid, who inherited The Daily Sentinel newspaper from his father, who died in jail after being framed for a crime he did not commit. Reid donned a mask, fedora and long coat to battle the bad guys as the Hornet.
Famed martial-arts expert Bruce Lee, then unknown in the U.S., played Kato, Reid’s manservant. He drove his boss around town in their ominous, gadget-packed Black Beauty car. MORE
h/t PowWow
Death, where is thy sting?
🙂
And Kato kicked Robin’s ass.
I prefer the old time radio version but Bruce Lee as Kato was extremely cool.
It was a cool show, for a young lad in the 60s. Couldn’t bear watching the recent remake movie. Too corny.
BATMAN, GREEN HORNET, STAR TREK – these shows defined my childhood. By all accounts, Williams was appreciative of his fans, and was a class act all around.
Rest in peace, Hornet. We always knew you were one of the good guys.
Pre-internet I used to argue with folks that Bruce Lee played Kato.
It was so difficult to prove back then.
I did meet Van at a comic book/toy show many moons ago.
He was nice and didn’t charge for autographs at the time.
I admit I ended up watching the show later on in life (during syndication) when I saw his hot secretary (Wende Wagner) and wondered why I never watched the show before. Then I got hooked. 🙂
The Green Hornet, Fibber Magee, Amos and Andy, The Lone Ranger, Dick Tracy from way back when an imagination was expected and a finger was a six shooter, not a reason for expulsion.
RIP sir, join back up with Kato.
That show didn’t get a lot of air time at my house. I think it was the silly masks – do they really hide the person’s identity?
RIP
Useless Trivia: The Green Hornet radio program, during WWII, made sure to emphasize that Kato was a Reid’s Filipino valet. Didn’t want people thinking he was Japanese during the war.
It’s still on the radio. My dad listens to it on Sirius or Patriot or what ever they are called now.
XM’s old time radio station channel 148 plays it quite a bit. And did you know the Green Hornet was related to the Lone Ranger? It seems that Brit Reid’s grandfather was a sidekick of the Lone Ranger.