BATMAN’s Burt Ward Reveals On-Screen Friendship With Adam West Carried Over Into Real Life
By Movieguide® Contributor
Actors Burt Ward and Adam West were once some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, known for iconic roles like Robin (Ward) and Batman (West) in the 1960’s superhero series BATMAN.
In a recent interview with Closer Weekly, Ward fondly recalled his relationship with his BATMAN co-star.
Ward, who played sidekick Robin to West’s Batman, revealed they shared friendship on and off the screen.
“He and I got along incredibly well,” Ward shared. “Within five minutes of meeting, the two of us were laughing so hard they had to tell us to quiet down. We just clicked. He was the funniest person I have ever met in my entire life.”
“On the weekends, we would play tennis together,” he continued. “We were going to public courts, and people would look over and say, ‘It’s Batman and Robin playing tennis!'”
Despite the fun that the duo had on set, Ward revealed that he did most of his stunts, which resulted in an injury “every single day.”
“I mean, you can’t imagine,” Ward explained. “One time I was tied down to a table, and Batman was supposed to blow a hole through the wall. The studio forgot to build a breakaway wall, so the special effect guys used real dynamite to blow the soundstage down. I couldn’t hear for a week after that.”
“It was dangerous,” he added. “I kept seeing the same doctor at the hospital. He told me I should consider a different line of work because I was in practically every week with something broken or burns. The studio took out a $3 million life insurance policy on me. I think by the end, they were trying to collect!”
In 2017, Ward’s friend and co-star died. Ward detailed his shock at the news of West’s death in an interview with Fox News.
“I saw him a couple of weeks ago,” Ward said at the time. “We had breakfast before signing autographs all day long. We walked to the stage, he walked so fast I could barely keep up with him. He was in great condition.”
“Nothing ever changed,” he recalled. “We were exactly the same after the first three minutes we met. We were both very fun-loving people and got along so well. We were such good friends that when we weren’t filming, we would occasionally go out on the weekends and play tennis… He was everything off-stage that he was on-screen. He was such a wonderful man.”
