Burt Ward

Children2AwardsInkpot Award (2014)^[1]

Burt Ward (born Bert John Gervis Jr. /ˈdʒɜːrvɪs/; July 6, 1945) is an American actor, animal welfare activist and businessman. He played Dick Grayson's Robin, the sidekick of Batman (played by Adam West), in the television series Batman (1966–1968), its theatrical feature film, the Saturday morning animated series The New Adventures of Batman (1977), the two-episode pilot Legends of the Superheroes (1979), the animated reunion films Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016) and Batman vs. Two-Face (2017), and the live-action television event Crisis on Infinite Earths (2019).

Early life

Ward was born Bert John Gervis Jr., on July 6, 1945, in Los Angeles, California. His father, Bert Sr., was the owner of a traveling ice show called "Rhapsody On Ice". At age two, Ward was listed in the magazine Strange as It Seems as a professional ice skater.^[2] Growing up, he was an avid reader of comic books such as Superman and Superboy, and enjoyed the action-adventure show Adventures of Superman.^[3] He acquired the nickname "Sparky" in his youth, possibly from the sparks his skates kicked up during his routines^[4] or his energetic nature.^[5] He excelled in high school sport activities such as football, track, and wrestling; he was also a member of the chess club and is a practitioner of Taekwondo.^[6] After graduation, he enrolled in college while working part-time for his father's real-estate company.^[3]

Career

In October 1965, Ward auditioned for the role of Robin. West and Ward were up against Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deyell for the roles of Batman and Robin, respectively. Selected for the role of Robin, Ward thought people would find Gervis (the "G" is soft, as in "gentleman") hard to pronounce and adopted his mother's maiden name, Ward. He also changed the spelling of Bert to "Burt" to add "punch".

Unlike the series' lead, Adam West, Ward was required to perform some dangerous stunt work. He was told this was because his costume revealed more of his face, making it impractical for all of his stunt scenes to be performed by a stunt double. Later, he also discovered that he was being paid the minimum wage allowed by the Screen Actors Guild, and his stunt double was paid per stunt, so having Ward perform his own stunts was a cost-saving strategy. Ward says that he was sent to the emergency room dozens of times during his time as Robin.^[7]

At the height of the series' popularity, Ward recorded several musical tracks during sessions produced by Tom Wilson and arranged by Frank Zappa. The first two, "Boy Wonder, I Love You" (which Zappa wrote) and "Orange Colored Sky", were released as a single on November 14, 1966. Two other tracks from these sessions, "Teenage Bill of Rights" and "Autumn Love", remain unreleased.^[8]

During the first months of shooting, Ward was paid $350 per week.^[9] The series only lasted three seasons, for a total of 120 episodes; according to Ward in an interview, this was because of the high cost of production. It was still high in the ratings, but ABC was losing money.^{[citation needed]} Later, NBC offered to pick it up for a fourth season, but the offer was withdrawn after learning that the sets had been destroyed.^[10] West and Ward also played Batman and Robin in the 20th Century Fox film Batman: The Movie released on July 30, 1966.

In 1969, a year after Batman's cancellation, West's mother died, bringing the two men closer together. They were reunited many times at conventions and TV reunion specials. In turn, Ward also made three guest appearances with West on separate cartoons: one was a 2002 episode of The Simpsons, later in 2010 on an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, and in 2013 for one of the final episodes of Futurama. West and Ward remained friends until West's death on June 9, 2017, at age 88.^[11]

Post-Batman career

After the end of Batman, Ward, like Adam West, found himself hard-pressed to find other acting jobs. He did act in more than 40 made-for-television films such as Virgin High.

In 1985, DC Comics named Ward as one of the honorees in the company's 50th-anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great for his work on the Batman series.^[12]

In June 1995, Ward wrote a tell-all autobiography called Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights, which described his time playing Robin.

Ward appeared in numerous reunions with co-star Adam West. The most memorable included reprising their roles as the Dynamic Duo on a short-lived animated series called The New Adventures of Batman, as well as The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour and Tarzan and the Super 7. In addition, they reappeared as the Dynamic Duo for Legends of the Superheroes. West and Ward finally reunited in the 2003 television movie, Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt.

During a Pro Wrestling Unplugged angle with wrestler Johnny Kashmere, Ward "knighted" Kashmere as the "New Batman". Ward has appeared on the show several times, walking out to the theme music from the 1960s Batman.

In 2001, Ward established the now-closed Boy Wonder Visual Effects, Inc.

In 2012, Bluewater comics was planning to issue a four-issue comic miniseries in homage to Burt Ward playing Robin, called Burt Ward, Boy Wonder, but it was apparently canceled. It starred Burt Ward and his crimefighting rescue dogs Gentle and Giant fighting crime. Part of the first issue was released on Free Comic Book Day 2012.

Beginning in late 2017, Ward is seen promoting the Batman television series and other classic television series on the MeTV television network.

In 2016 and 2017 respectively, West and Ward reunited a final time, to reprise the Dynamic Duo in the animated movies Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs. Two-Face, the latter being released after West's death.

On January 9, 2020, Ward received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[13]

Charity work

In 1994, Ward and his wife, Tracy Posner Ward, founded a charitable organization called Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoptions, Inc.,^[14] which rescues giant-breed dogs such as Great Danes and some smaller-breed dogs. Their work with the organization has been featured in such outlets as People magazine, ASPCA Animal Watch,^[15] Hard Copy, Inside Edition, and Entertainment Tonight.^[16] Ward was also seen in an episode of Animal Planet's Adoption Tales.

Business activity

Burt has also created a company, Gentle Giants, which sells dog and cat food.^[17]

Personal life

Ward's first wife was Bonney Lindsey, daughter of conductor Mort Lindsey.^[18] Ward and Lindsey married on July 19, 1965, and divorced in 1967.^[18] They had one daughter in 1966.^[18] From 1967 to 1969, he was married to actress Kathy Kersh, whom he met when she appeared as a guest villainess on the Batman television series. He was married to model Mariana Torchia from 1985 to 1989.^[19] Since 1990, Ward has been married to Tracy Posner.^[19][20] Their daughter was born on February 16, 1991.^[20]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	Batman	Dick Grayson / Robin
1970	Scream, Evelyn, Scream!	Dune Buggy Driver
1986	Fire in the Night	Paul
1987	The Underachievers	Bowmont
1989	Robot Ninja	Stanley Kane
	Batman and Robin and the Other Super Heroes	Himself (Presenter)	Video documentary
	Holy Batmania	Himself / Robin	Video documentary short
1990	Smoothtalker	Lab Technician
	Kill Crazy	Michael	Video
	The Girl I Want	Dad
	Cyber-C.H.I.C.	Harry Truman Hodgkins
1991	Virgin High	Dick Murphy
1992	Hot Under the Collar	The Pope
1993	Beach Babes from Beyond	Mr. Bun
	The Dwelling	Crasmire	Video
1994	Reverse Heaven	Doctor
1995	Karate Raider	Dr. Gan
	Assault of the Party Nerds 2: The Heavy Petting Detective	Randolph
1996	Alien Force	Omnipresent Praxima	Video
1998	Desperation Boulevard	Himself
1999	Moving Targets	O'Malley
2001	Batman Featurette	Himself	Video documentary short
2002	Pacino Is Missing	Guard
2003	Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt	Himself	TV movie
2013	Starring Adam West		Documentary
2014	Na Na Batman		Featurette
	Batmania Born		Featurette
2015	Star Quest	Wayne
2016	Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders	Dick Grayson / Robin (voice)
2017	Batman vs. Two-Face
2018	Heaven & Hell	Doctor
TBA	Star Quest	Wayne	Post-production

Television

Date	Title	Role	Notes
1966–1968	Batman	Dick Grayson / Robin	Main role
1967	Batgirl		Studio short
	The Hollywood Squares	Himself	5 episodes
1977	The New Adventures of Batman	Dick Grayson / Robin (voice)	16 episodes
1979	Legends of the Superheroes	Dick Grayson / Robin	Specials: "The Challenge", "The Roast"
1983	Family Feud	Himself	Episodes: "Batman vs. Lost in Space" & "Gilligan's Island vs. Batman"
1984	High School U.S.A.	Teacher	TV special
1995	Living Single	Himself	Episode: "Mommy Not Dearest"
1997	Homeboys in Outer Space	Gerbil	Episode: "The Adventures of Ratman and Gerbil or, Holy Homeboys in Outer Space"
2000–2004	Biography	Himself	Episodes: "Adam West: Behind the Cowl", "Batman: Holy Batmania!" & "Catwoman: Her Many Lives"
2002	The Simpsons	Robin (voice)	Episode: "Large Marge"
	Hollywood Squares	Himself	5 episodes
2006	TV Land's Top Ten		TV series documentary – "Top 10 TV Dynamic Duos"
	The 4th Annual TV Land Awards		TV special
2008	Guiding Light		1 episode
2010	SpongeBob SquarePants	Young Barnacle Boy (voice)	Episode: "Back to the Past/The Bad Guy Club for Villains"
2011	Hollywood Treasure	Himself	Episode: "Holy Gobstopper, Batman!"
2013	Futurama		Episode: "Leela and the Genestalk"
2015	Robot Chicken		Episode: "Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Magical Friendship"
2019	Supergirl	Dick Grayson (Earth-66)	Episode: "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One"

Bibliography

• Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights. With Stanley Ralph Ross. ISBN 978-0964704800 (1995)

References

External links

• Burt Ward at IMDb
• Burt Ward at Turner Classic Movies
• Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoptions site
• Interview with Burt Ward – The Spectrum, September, 2016

Preceded by Johnny Duncan

Actors to portray Robin 1966–1968

Succeeded by Chris O'Donnell