Batman’s Riddler dies at 72

Burbank, Calif. — Frank Gorshin, the master impressionist and character actor who received an Emmy nomination for his role as the villainous Riddler in the campy 1960s “Batman” television series and more recently brought comedian George Burns to life in a one-man Broadway show, died Tuesday. He was 72.

He had suffered from lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia, his wife of 48 years, Christina, said.

Gorshin had just finished the national tour of his Tony-nominated show “Say Goodnight, Gracie” before he was hospitalized with pneumonia. The show opened on Broadway in 2002 and ran for 364 performances.

Despite dozens of TV and movie credits, Gorshin will be forever remembered for his role as the Riddler, Adam West’s villainous foil in the question mark-pocked green suit and bowler hat on “Batman” from 1966-69.

Gorshin’s final performance will be broadcast on tonight’s CBS series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

Gorshin did more than 40 impressions, including Al Jolson, Kirk Douglas, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin and James Cagney. His Feb. 9, 1964, appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” was famously overshadowed by the American TV debut of the Beatles.

He did impressions in Las Vegas showrooms, opening for Darin and paving the way for other impressionists like Rich Little.

Real life trouble

New York — Cody Kasch, who plays troubled teen Zach Young on ABC’s hit series “Desperate Housewives,” has been charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession, police said Wednesday.

Plainclothes officers arrested Kasch, 17, at about 11 p.m. Tuesday in the East Village in Manhattan after they spotted him allegedly smoking marijuana in public, said Officer Jennara Everleth, a police department spokeswoman.

Kasch, who has a Queens address, was charged with fifth-degree drug possession, given a ticket and released. No court date was set.

Warming up for tour

New York — Coldplay is thawing out and getting ready for an upcoming album and a summer tour.

The band performed Tuesday at the Beacon Theatre, their first concert in Manhattan in three years.

“It’s got to be flattering to us that you still remember us after all this time away,” the group’s lead singer, Chris Martin, told the crowd, which stood for the entire 90-minute concert.

The concert was taped for AOL, which will broadcast the concert on AOL Music Live!, its weekly concert series on the Internet, on June 7, when the band’s new album, “X&Y,” will be released.

The U.S. leg of the band’s “Twisted Logic” tour kicks off Aug. 4 in Hartford, Conn.

Officially a legend

Los Angeles — Adam Sandler wrote “Hi to everyone” and left his handprints and prints of his shoes in cement at the fabled Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.

The ceremony Tuesday coincided with the upcoming release of his latest film, “The Longest Yard,” set to open May 27.

Sandler, 38, said that when he told his family he was pursuing an acting career, his relatives told him that he would follow in the footsteps of some big stars.

“I didn’t become any of those people,” said Sandler, a former cast member of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” “But today I can officially say I am now the legendary Adam Sandler.”

DeGeneres reveals abuse

New York — Ellen DeGeneres reveals in the latest issue of Allure magazine that her stepfather molested her as a teenager.

While speaking about her messy breakup with actress Anne Heche, the talk-show host said her stepfather insisted on feeling her breast while DeGeneres’ mother was fighting breast cancer. She said the incident later escalated into “other things” and her stepfather, now deceased, tried to break into her bedroom.

“I had to kick a window out and escape and sleep in a hospital all night long,” DeGeneres told Allure.

DeGeneres said she’s speaking about the incident because “it’s important for teenage girls out there to hear that there are different ways to say no. And if it ever happens to them, they should tell someone right away.”

She said the occurrences, which happened in her late teens, had no effect on her sexual orientation.

“People I’ve confided in about this before say, ‘Oh, that’s why you’re a lesbian,”‘ said DeGeneres. “But I was a lesbian way before that. My earliest memories are of being a lesbian.”