Burt Ward

Burt Ward (born Bert John Gervis Jr. July 6, 1945) is an American television actor. He is best known for his work as Robin, the "Boy Wonder", in the 1960s television series, Batman in which he starred alongside Adam West from 1966 to 1968.

Early life

Ward was born Herbert John Gervis Junior in Los Angeles, California. At the age of 2, he was listed in the profilic magazine Strange as it Seems as the world's youngest professional ice skater. Growing up, he was an avid reader of Superman (comic), Superboy, and enjoyed the action-adventure show Adventures of Superman. He excelled in high school sports such as football, track and field, wrestling, and was a member of the chess club. In addition to this, he earned a brown belt in karate. After graduation, he enrolled in university, while working part-time for a minor real estate company.

Robin begins

At the age of 19, he decided to audition for the part of Robin, without having ever read a "Batman" comic book. Upon meeting with producer William Dozier for the role, Dozier was impressed, saying "Robin just walked into my office." He and Adam West were up against Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deyell for the roles of Batman and Robin. During this time, the show was being planned as a serious action-adventure show, and their screen tests consisted of staged fight scenes and, at one point, Ward chopping a set of boards with his hand. Eventually, he was selected for the role of Robin at the age of twenty, stepping onto the screen in 1966 with the debut of Batman. Unfortunately, unlike his partner, Ward was required to act during dangerous stuntwork because his costume revealed more of his face than a stuntman could compensate for.

During the first months of shooting the seasons, Ward was paid only a paltry $200 per week. By series' end, he was earning up to $2500 a week on set. According to him, in an interview, he stated that the series was short-lived, due to the abrupt cancellation in 1968. The show was still high in the ratings, but ABC Network was losing thousands of dollars on filming (this can be seen in the decline of the sets and constant re-use of stock footage). After the producers refused the studio's decision to eliminate Robin to cut costs back, the series was cancelled. Weeks later, NBC offered to pick it up for a fourth season, but the offer was withdrawn upon realization that the sets had been bulldozed.

Post-Batman career

After the end of Batman, Ward found himself hard-pressed for other acting jobs. Ward only reemerged on the movie scene to act in small, low-budget films such as Virgin High. Ward admitted in an interview that playing Robin "killed my career."

Ward also claims that he turned down the Dustin Hoffman part in The Graduate, because he decided to renew his Batman contract for the third season. Ever since then, Ward has deeply regretted turning down the role of Benjamin Braddock, as he was typecast as Robin and Hoffman went on to be one of Hollywood's greatest actors.

He did, however, appear in numerous reunions with co-star Adam West. The most memorable reunions included Ward and West reprising their roles as Batman and Robin on a short-lived animated television series called The New Adventures of Batman and the 2003 television movie Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt.

Autobiography

Ward also wrote a tell-all autobiography called Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights (ISBN 0-9647048-0-3), which described his life while he was playing Robin. In 2001, Ward began Boy Wonder Visual Effects, Inc.

Recent work

Currently, in addition to managing the aforementioned corporation, Burt Ward is the husband of Tracy Posner Ward, whom he married in 1990. The couple has two daughters, and they run a charity that sells Great Danes and other dogs.

It has been discussed in publications including People, ASPCA Animal Watch,^[1] Pet Life, Dog World, etc. It has been seen on TV shows including Visiting with Huell Howser, 1-800 Save A Pet, Adoption Tales, Pet Story, Amazing Tales, Super Heroes; Where Are They Now?, Woof! It's a Dog's Life, Hard Copy, Inside Edition, and Entertainment Tonight. ^[2]

Burt and Tracy Ward have previously sued a newspaper and several individuals for defamation over criticism of their dog rescue operation. Both suits were dismissed under the California Anti-SLAPP law.

Trivia

• Burt Ward (a.k.a. Bert John Gervis Jr.) decided upon his professional surname by using his mother's maiden name. He substituted the e with the u in his first name to add more of a "punch." Ward's reasoning behind the name change was that he was afraid that people would have a hard time pronouncing 'Gervis' (which is pronounced with a soft-"G"). Adam West recounts a slightly different reasoning in his autobiography Back to the Batcave, that Bert was changed to Burt to make the name more 'rugged' a la Burt Lancaster, and an additional reason for Ward being the fact that Dick Grayson/Robin was Bruce Wayne's/Batman's ward in a play on words.
• At the height of the Batman popularity, Ward recorded a series of tracks under the production of 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", remained unreleased. ^[3]

References

1. ^ Canine Crusader
2. ^ Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoption: We're on TV!
3. ^ The Zappa Patio: Unreleased Records by Burt Ward

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