Van Williams has passed away at the age of 82 — after finding fame as a pioneering superhero when he signed up alongside
Bruce Lee to star as Britt Reid in the 1967 series, which was originally supposed to be a huge hit alongside
Adam West's work on "Batman." The show was canceled after a single season, but Van followed up his fame by becoming a real-life crime fighter!
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Van played playboy Britt Reid alongside Lee as his loyal chauffeur Kato — who also fought alongside Britt as superheroes fighting local gangsters. Medical issues had him sitting out a turn in the big-screen "Green Hornet" movie starring
Seth Rogen in 2011. The actor told
The National ENQUIRER, however, that he was happy to miss out on a movie he couldn't stand!
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Van tried to be polite about his disappointment about the big-screen attempt to bring back the character that first began as a hit radio serial. He finally admitted: "I wasn’t happy at all with the movie. [Seth] played it completely wrong. Made it into a joke, a comedy. My friends who saw it when it first came out said I was going to hate it, which is what my reaction was."
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Instead, Van made his final onscreen appearance as a director filming a "Green Hornet" episode in 1993's "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story." Tragically, Van's own heroics cut his life short. The handsome star kept working after his iconic show was canceled, but he couldn't resist real-life adventures!
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That included a stint as a Los Angeles firefighter that singed his lungs and left him fighting serious health problems — including lung disease and crippling back problems — later in life! In a bizarre twist, Van also began a Santa Monica communications company that relayed radio conversations — leading to him helping poice raid a pirate radio outfit in 1993.
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He confronted the operators who were using his channels to make drug deals: "They said they were going to come bomb my house, my office and the equipment." Van then personally took to the streets and helped California cops bust the bad guys.
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In addition to fires and criminals, Van also had to beat his own boozing — telling The ENQUIRER in 2005 that he was much happier living in peaceful Haley, Idaho, with his longtime wife Vicky. "Everyone got rich after I got out of the business," laughed Van. "
Bruce Willis lives right across the lake from me. I can't believe what guys like him make these days!"
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"I enjoyed my life," said Van, looking back at his work as a firefighter, "but by 1995, I had to get out of L.A. I was burned really badly in a 1993 Malibu fire while trying to evacuate people. I had burns all over my body, but my lungs and throat got the worst of it. After that, I couldn't take the L.A. smog anymore and moved to Idaho."
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Van also revealed how he was enjoying retirement alongside a fellow crimefighter. "Adam West lives up here and is still a good friend of mine," Van said — recalling that they "used to do some autograph tours." Van later cut back on the autograph show circuit in favor of life in rural Idaho, though.
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"I've had a hell of a problem with my back," he added, "which I hurt really badly in 1987 rappelling out of a helicopter while I was with the sheriff's department." When one of his six back operations left him in excruciating pain, Van medicated himself with vodka and needed to dry out at the Betty Ford Center in 1998.
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"I just flat quit drinking and now my health is great," he said at the time — although the star would later suffer a heart attack in 2011 while getting ready for a motorcycle ride: “I don’t want to think what would have happened if I had been out riding when I was stricken. I likely would have been a goner!"
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Van told The ENQUIRER that, despite being "a bit of a loner,” he nonetheless continued to be amazed at the popularity of the TV show that only ran one season — and launched the career of
Bruce Lee, who'd die of a cerebral edema in 1973. Van laughed: “I guess I’m thankful that people still care!”
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