- 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.
- [on auditioning for Batman (1966)]: To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know what I was trying out for. 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.
- [on shooting Batman (1966)]: 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.
- [1987 interview] I truly believe I've made a valuable contribution to the entertainment industry. I feel I'm now making an equally valuable contribution through my work helping charities. I expect that my acting career will also continue. Eventually, what I'm presently doing in film distribution will join forces with what I want to do in film performing. I intend to accomplish much more in many different areas of my life -- and I'm confident that you will continue hearing about me.
- I learned a great deal from Batman (1966). It was an experience I will treasure forever. It gave me a fantastic opportunity. It has enabled me to meet and be welcomed by people throughout the world. Having seen me on television, they treat me as though I'm their friend, as though I've been in their home before.
- [on the difference in Batman (1966) and Batman Forever (1995)]: We did a family show. Our show was oriented towards mom and dad and the kids, teenagers. Everybody could watch our show. The three Batman movies that have come out, the studio must feel that they need to present this in a much darker, more ominous, more violent, more degrading way, because they didn't want any association with anything that was uplifting or wholesome or all-American apple pie. And that's the answer to it. I don't happen to agree with it. I honestly think that Adam [Adam West] and I could have done an incredible job doing the roles. Let me tell you something, this is not against the other actors like Val Kilmer or Michael Keaton. They're great, too. But Adam West and I were Batman and Robin. And just like you have Star Trek (1966) that had William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in the original series, which was followed by, I don't know, five, six, probably now going to be seven features, all of which were successful, there's no reason we couldn't have done it. It's just that there is some theory that you have to kill so many people per second and you have to have such death-defying violence that we could not be believed. And to be honest with you, if we were going to do it, we wouldn't have wanted to do it that same way. We believe you can have all the kinds of entertainment you want to appeal to all ages. Because right now you have a movie that only should be seen by adults, these three films, and when I went to see the movie, I was very upset to see children two, three, four, five, six years old in that theatre that should never have been in there.
- [on his longtime friendship with Adam West, who played Bruce Wayne (aka Batman (1966))]: Adam and I have been very close friends. We're very, very, dear friends. Adam was like a mentor for me. I mean, he had a lot of experience in acting and for me, doing Batman, was my very first thing. We've always been good friends, we're dear friends, now!
- [Who wore a different type of material glove than his series lead, Adam West, who played Batman]: The show was rushed into production when it was picked up as a mid-season replacement. It was originally planned as a regular season show to premiere in September of 1966. What was supposed to be at least 6 months of preparation time, turned out to be 5 weeks! Many of the costumes, props and even the Batmobile weren't finished when we began production. As things were completed, they put them into the show. You'll notice my boots also changed. Adam had the real challenge as the first cowl that was made for him was much too small. I still remember seeing him grimace as he pulled it on and off - it was about two sizes too small.
- [on Adam West]: I must tell you that Adam West and myself had stuntmen. But they had a policy on Batman. Whenever there was something dangerous (which seemed to be in every episode) they always said, "Use Burt." So I was always getting hurt. Because my stuntman was off having coffee with Adam West! I'll never forget that the very first shot on the very first day in the Batmobile, I'm dressed in my costume, we come barreling out of the Batcave, I noticed that Adam wasn't driving. I said, "Why are you driving? Why are you in the costume?". He said, "I am a stuntman. I'm a specialist in racing cars." I said, "Oh! Why am I here? Don't I have a stuntman?" "You have one. He's over there having coffee with Adam West." I said, "What's going on here? If it's so dangerous that Adam needs a stuntman, why don't you have a stuntman for me?". And the answer came back, "Because your stuntman doesn't look like you." For three and a half years, in prime time, I had a wonderful stuntman but I did all the stunts because he didn't look like me!
- [on the death of Adam West] I am devastated at the loss of one of my very dearest friends. Adam and I had a special friendship for more than 50 years. We shared some of the most fun times of our lives together. Our families have deep love and respect for each other. This is a terribly unexpected loss of my lifelong friend. I will forever miss him. There are several fine actors who have portrayed Batman in films. In my eyes, there was only one real Batman. That is and always will be Adam West. He was truly the Bright Knight.
- [in a 1987 interview]: They wanted Robin and the character Dick Grayson to be all American, apple pie, antiseptic, you know, every mother loves him, you know? There were certain, I guess, agencies of censorship, that felt that things sometimes we said, the implications of the relationship were unwholesome, and strange, and bizarre, of course we all knew that. Sometimes we would scare the director a little bit, you know, play it up a little bit and "Oh! You can't do that! Oh my God, we're gonna be off the air next week!" And they sometimes didn't like the way we put on our costumes.
- [Who talked about Adam West being perfect, for each shot, in the series' final season]: There was a scene in the third season with Batgirl (played by [Yvonne Craig]), where we brought her in the Batcave and the whole thing was we had to give her some knockout gas so that she wouldn't know where the Batcave was. We brought her into the Batcave, she saw the Batcave and now, we were really to go out and we had to give her a little more with bat gas and now, she's knocked out and there's this line, series of lines that Adam and I had and it was supposed to be very simple, I was going to say something, "Gosh, Batman; you know, Batgirl is really pretty." And his line was, "Well Robin, I'm glad you've noticed I can see you're growing up or something like that, right?" However, my dear friend, Adam, who rarely makes a mistake, he made 14 mistakes in a row and I knew something had to be wrong. Why would he do that? Well, what happened was, in the real world, when you're making a show, there's such a time crunch that he knew that he can stretch that elastic until that lad, where they're going to have to use whatever he said, so have it like the 15th take, roll them and said, "Adam, please don't make another mistake." I said, "Gosh, Batman, Batgirl is very pretty," and he said, "I'm glad you've noticed Robin." It shows the oncoming thrust of men, oh, the tears were coming down, my mask, trying to keep my straight face, well, nobody noticed, until the next week, when the censors called us in, oh man, I thought that was going to be the end. They were stuck to use it. It wasn't till Adam introduced me to all the wilder side of filmmaking.
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