BURT WARD

Before Batman, Burt Ward was an unknown 19 year old young man who most recently sold real estate on the weekends while studying acting at UCLA. This opened the door to his role as Robin, he sold a home to a a producer at 20th Century Fox. Burt finally got a break, as he auditioned for the role as Robin. The first time he went to the studio he had no idea what he was auditioning for.

"To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know what I was trying out for," he recalls. "The producers didn't tell me. I remember that I went in for my screen test and two guys pulled off my pants and pulled on these leotards. I was afraid I was auditioning for a porno flick."

When asked if given a role would he outgrow it, "Oh, No !! I promise you, I wont grow" he replied. however he still did not know what the project was going to be as the studio was keeping the details secret. He was called back again to test with Adam West in costume . They finally had to tell Burt that Robin was a comic book character because he had never read a Batman comic before and had no idea who Robin was. There was some miscommunications with the studio and poor Burt kept coming back to the studio for test fitting but no one had told him he had been awarded the part ! He finally did find out and he became the second part of the Dynamic Duo.
Burt was not entirely new to show business, at the age of 2 he was shown in the magazine "Strange As It Seems" as the worlds youngest professional ice skater ! Both of his parents were in show business and he traveled in his fathers ice show. Burt studied acting at UCLA ( Rob Reiner was also there at that time) He also was a black belt in karate which in his screen test he showed the producers.
He was to later in the series go face to face with Bruce Lee as Kato. In real life and not Gotham City, Bruce lived several floors below him at the Barrington Plaza apartments in West Los Angeles. Bruce and Bert were friends and they sparred together. That fighting was much rougher than the little scene on Batman where both of them were instructed NOT to hit each other. Bruce and Bert and their wives went to dinner often down in Chinatown together.
He was at a distinct disadvantage to Adam West in the respect of the stunts and special effects. Due to his costume , the mask he wore covered much less than Adam's cowl, He was required to sit through more of the dangerous scenes.

"I was new. This was my first job. One of the scenes was in the same show, where The Riddler shoots me with a dart in the arm and I fall down and he presses a button in the Batmobile and all these fireworks go off. They said it was a one take thing and nobody could move. Well here I didn't move and the ashes burned through my cape and I had third degree burns and scars on my arm because I didn't want to make any noise and ruin the shot."

Burt was injured more than a few times, the art of special effects had not been refined as much as today. Wow was he under paid ! for the first season he received only $350.00 per week.
Like Adam West, Burt thought that the starring role he played would open the door for new and exciting screen work but also like Adam, people could not shake the notion that he was Robin the Boy Wonder. Burt's thoughts on the series in 1996,

"Playing Robin was everything I could want. It was me being allowed to be myself. I was exactly what the producers imagined Robin would be like."

After the series ended, Burt has occasionally appeared in lower-budget, direct to video films like Kill Crazy, Robot Ninja and Virgin High, but he admits that Robin, to a large extent killed his acting career.

"I tried to get other work after 'Batman,' but I was hopelessly stereotyped. Maybe I was overly optimistic, but I was never really bothered by it. I've had a great time as Robin, but my life never depended on acting again. I knew I would find something else to do."

Burt has made many personal appearances with and without Adam West. And still does now. Burt is married and lives on a ranch in California. He married Tracy Posner the daughter of a multi millionaire in 1990 and is doing fine! He has published a book called "Boy Wonder my life in tights " Beware Batfans, this is a tell all Bat sex book not for children !! It is a great read if you are a mature Batfan!