NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Tuesday, December 6, 2016, 1:30 PM
Van Williams and Bruce Lee
Strong-jawed actor Van Williams, best known as the man behind The Green Hornet mask in the 1960s, died last week.
He was 82.
Williams succumbed to kidney failure in his Scottsdale, Ariz., home on November 29, his wife confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Van Williams, who played "The Green Hornet" in this 1966-67 television series, died on Nov. 29. (ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES/ABC VIA GETTY IMAGES)
The Texas-born son of a cattle rancher, Williams found a modicum of fame as private eye Kenny Madison in the 1959 series, "Bourbon Street Blues," and its more popular follow-up, "Surfside 6," a year later.
But it wasn't until he was cast as the titular superhero on ABC's "The Green Hornet," a flagrant attempt to cash in on the success of "Batman," that Williams reluctantly found his claim to fame.
It was a character he knew very well.
Quote:"When I was a kid I had actually been a fan of The Green Hornet when it was on the radio and in those serials at the theater, but I didn't know if I wanted to star in a TV series like that," Williams told Classic Images in 2007. "It was very similar to Adam West's show, Batman, and seemed like something that would probably be the kiss of death to my career."
"You do that type of show and become so identified with it, like Superman's George Reeves was, and you can never get away from it."
True to the script: Williams struggled to emerge from the shadow of his “Green Hornet” co-star, Bruce Lee, who played the hero's sidekick, Kato. But Williams continued to work steadily on television through the 1970s, most notably in the short-lived, kid-friendly maritime series, "Westwind."
Never a huge fan of the business, Williams turned down the chance to have a cameo in Seth Rogen's recent film version of "The Green Hornet."
Quote:"I was pretty upset with the way they did it," Williams told Detroit's WLQV AM in 2011. "They took their own license with it, they didn't follow the character."
Williams is survived by Vicki, his wife of 57 years, and their daughters Nina, Tia and Britt, and twin daughters from a previous marriage, Lisa and Lynne. He also had nine grand children.
Williams pictured at the 2013 Chiller Theatre Expo in New Jersey. (BOBBY BANK/ WIREIMAGE)