A Pittsburgh native. Gorshin's first professional job came at age 17 when he won a talent contest, his prize being a one-week engagement at Jackie Heller's Carousel nightclub where Alan King was headlining. He studied at Carnegie Mellon and after two years in the Army during the Korean conflict, serving in Special Services as an entertainer, he returned to civilian life and arrived in Hollywood in the mid-50s and began working in episodic TV and in small feature film roles. Often he was cast as a small-time hoodlum or gunslinger's gang member. Gorshin landed a role in "The Proud and Profane" (1956), but his resume usually consisted of lighthearted B-movies such as "Hot Rod Girl" (1956), "Dragstrip Girl" (1957) and "Invasion of the Saucer Men" (1957). In 1957, while visiting family in Pittsburgh, his agent phoned him to rush back to Hollywood for a screen test for "Run Silent Run Deep" (1958), prompting Gorshin to drive to L.A. for over 39 consecutive hours, falling asleep at the wheel, crashing and suffered a fractured skull, He woke up in the hospital four days later, and after an L.A. newspaper reported he was killed, the role of Officer Ruby went to Don Rickles.
Meaty roles were not always forthcoming until his work doing impressions--Kirk Douglas, Al Jolson, Dean Martin and James Cagney among them--both on TV and in Las Vegas (often opening for Bobby Darin) upped his recognition factor. His first substantial role was in the A-movie "Bells Are Ringing" (1960) with Dean Martin, in which he did a thinly-disguised Brando impression. He was the nerdy musician in "Where the Boys Are" (1960) and starred in the Disney movie "That Darn Cat" (1965).
On television, Gorshin found guest roles on such 60s series as "The Defenders," "The Untouchables," "Naked City," "Combat!", "The Munsters" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," along with appearing as himself on such variety staples as "The Dean Martin Show," "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" and "The Jackie Gleason Show." but is particularly best remembered as the green-suited villain The Riddler, one of the recurring band of evil-doers, thwarted by "Batman" on the campy ABC series--he appeared in a dozen episodes (including the pilot) and in the 1966 feature version. He earned an Emmy nomination for his performance on the series, which, with his delightfully evil giggle and intense sudden turns of emotion, was easily the most manic and dynamic of all the Bat-Villains, and his performance most certainly informed Jim Carrey's version in 1994's "Batman Forever." The role in the pop culture "It" show of its era made him an overnight sensation, and he was soon headlining packed rooms in the Las Vegas casinos. He gave a particularly memorable--and also Emmy-nominated--performance as Commissioner Bele--a bigoted alien whose body was chalk white on one half and ink black on the other who clashed another from whose planet whose black and white sides are reversed in a race relations parable--on the classic 1969 "Star Trek" episode titled "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."
Gorshin phased out his impressions as variety shows became a dinosaur in the 70s, and worked in film and TV--including guest spots on such popular series as "Charlie's Angels," "Wonder Woman," "SWAT," "Ironside," "Hawaii Five-Oas well as the theater. He he made his Broadway debut in 1970 in the title role in the short-lived musical biography "Jimmy", based on the life of New York Mayor "Gentleman" Jimmy Walker, and toured in the award-winning "On the Twentieth Century". Film and TV roles became a bit more scarce in the 80s, although Gorshin turned up on the ABC soap "Edge of Night" and in primetime shows like "Murder, She Wrote" and "The Fall Guy". Denied the role of The Riddler in "Batman Forever", Gorshin nevertheless saw his celebrity rise again. He was cast as a psychiatrist in Terry Gilliam's action thriller "12 Monkeys" (1995) and became known to a new generation unaware of his days being sandwiched between Topo Gigio and the Bolshoi Ballet on "The Ed Sullivan Show". After "Twelve Monkeys," Gorshin appeared in a steady slate of B-movies and direct to video fare. A recurring role on "General Hospital" as Reverend Love came in 1999, and he was tapped to guest star in comic book-minded sereis like "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and Roger Corman's "Black Scorpion." Gorshin also continued to appear occasionally in nightclubs, and even dabbled with giving voice to such iconic cartoon characters as Daffy Duck and Yosemite Sam, among other animated roles.
On stage, the actor also starred in touring or stock and regional companies of "What Makes Sammy Run"; "Promises, Promises"; "Peter Pan"; "Prisoner of Second Avenue"; "Deathtrap"; "Doubles"; "Ah, Wilderness!"; "On the 20th Century"; "Breaking Legs"; "Guys and Dolls"; and "The Sunshine Boys" co-starring with Dick Van Patten. He also appeared in New York City in Gilbert and Sullivan's "Princess Ida," and at age 71 Gorshin appeared in Broadway's Tony-nominated "Say Goodnight, Gracie" in 2002-03--as well as in a national tour--playing the late comedian George Burns, complete with gravelly voice, cigar and receding silver hairpiece (but few other makeup tricks), and he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance (ironically, Gorshin had never before included Burns among his impressions).
In his later years, Gorshin seemed--unlike some others who became famous for comic book portrayals--completely at peace with his legacy as The Riddler, and often appeared in Batman restrospectives, including the amusing CBS telepic "Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt" (2003), which chronicled the backstage comedies and dramas behind the series, and he lent his voice to another classic Bat-villian, Prof. Hugo Strange, on the animated series "The Batman" (WB, 2004). One of Gorshin's final TV appearances occurred just days after his death in 2005 on episode of TV's "CSI" titled "Grave Danger" directed by Quentin Tarantino, playing himself.