Burt Ward (born Bert John Gervis Jr. on July 6, 1945 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor and voice actor best known for playing Dick Grayson / Robin in the 1960s Batman TV series.
Thanks to training from his father, who operated a traveling ice show, he was considered the world's youngest professional figure skater at age two. He grew up reading superhero comic books and was a fan of The Adventures of Superman. In high school, he was a football player, track star, wrestler, member of the chess club, and he became a martial artist. When he began his acting career, he decided to change his name to Burt Ward, Ward being his mother's maiden name, as he felt it would be easier for fans to say and remember.
In Batman, he was required to do his own stunts because Robin's Domino Mask would make hiding a stunt double's face harder and the studio wanted to save money by not having to hire another stunt double. This landed him in the hospital several times. In addition to his acting career, he was briefly a singer. He bonded with his costar Adam West, saying he saw him as a surrogate father. They would costar in several projects and remained friends until West's death.
Sadly, he found himself typecast and it was difficult for him to find acting roles other than Robin. In June 1995, he wrote an autobiography called Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights.
While his role as Robin overshadowed most of his career, it should be noted that during the filming of the Batman TV series, he once shared an apartment neighborhood with the martial arts legend Bruce Lee (who guest starred for several episodes as Kato) and aside of eventually becoming best friends, the two sparred a few times (Yep, Burt Ward fought Bruce Lee a few times and generally could keep up).
Over the years, he's competed on a few game shows like Family Feud and The Hollywood Squares. He also founded a dog rescue charity specialising in larger breeds, Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoptions.
In 2019, it was revealed that he would take part to the Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths at the end of the year.
He was married to Bonney Lindsey from 1965 to 1967, which gave him a daughter named Lisa Ann Ward. He was married to Kathy Kersh, who played Cornelia on Batman, from 1967 to 1969. He was married to the model Mariana Torchia from 1985 to 1989. He's been married to the actress Tracy Posner since 1990, and they have a daughter named Melody Lane Ward.
Notable Roles:
- Clueless: As himself
- DC Comics / Batman adaptations as Dick Grayson / Robin:
- Futurama: As himself
- Guiding Light: As himself
- High School U.S.A.: Teacher
- Homeboys in Outer Space: Gerbil
- Living Single: As himself
- Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt: As himself.
- Robot Chicken: As himself
- The Simpsons: Robin
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Young Barnacle Boy
Tropes
- Meaningful Name: Burt's stage name was conceived by the producers of Batman to give him a more "rugged" first name ("Burt" as in Burt Lancaster instead of the original spellling of "Bert") and to subconsciously reinforce his role in the audience's mind, as Dick Grayson/Robin was the "Ward" of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the series.
