Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

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NJ_Batfan
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Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by NJ_Batfan »

The Comic Book Central Podcast has posted a new Burt Ward interview that clocks in at over an hour and six minutes. You can download and enjoy it (episode 184) here:

http://comicbookcentral.libsyn.com/
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BATWINGED HORNET
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

Thanks for the Burt link!
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bat-rss
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by bat-rss »

I listened to this. I was both surprised and not surprised to hear him say that the tiger pit below him in "Better Luck Next Time" was real, not a projection.

Not surprised because it certainly LOOKS real on screen. (Every time I've watched it since the DVDs came out, I've said to myself "It must be real! But, no, of course it must have been a back projection. But... It looks too realistic! But, no...")

Surprised because, um, did Dozier and co. have no regard for his safety?
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by Dan E Kool »

bat-rss wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:38 pm Surprised because, um, did Dozier and co. have no regard for his safety?
It's a tale Mr Ward has told many times and which Adam West has corroborated, but I'm sure that I read Julie Newmar discredited it at one point (I can't remember where, sorry). I still like to think that it's true, if only because it makes the episode that little bit more fun to watch. That's probably why Burt tells the story, anyway. ;)
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by mwilbury »

I just couldn't take anymore when he more than implied that he was Bruce Lee's equal in sparring sessions.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by AndyFish »

Although I've never met Burt in person I've heard over and over again he is a terrific guy to his fans and I give him mega kudos to his work with dogs.

But from almost the beginning he's hard to take-- and prone to telling really exaggerated stories. I passed on his book and I tend to avoid reading interviews with him-- there's too much fiction.

The Bruce Lee story I fully believe is that Lee put on a stern face during rehearsal's of the episodes fight scene and Burt was pretty frightened-- who wouldn't be. There will ever only be one Bruce Lee and to even imply he was something akin to his equal is insulting and ridiculous.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

When it comes to TV actors from old shows--particularly the more famous productions, exaggeration is not uncommon at all. From the Dozierverse, just about all of the main cast has stretched the truth about themselves or the production from time to time, or their "insight" on how Batman was going to work from the start (before an audience ever saw it). On other occasions, they were being honest.

From the exaggeration (or worse) side, I recall Yvonne Craig loved milking her tall tales about William Shatner, and how Bruce Dern was walking around with a foul odor on the set of Land of the Giants--pure trash talk, but if its the stuff that helps pad appeal to a target audience, I guess they had no problem with stretching the truth.

On that note, there's a recent YouTube video of a Ward interview, and in the comments section, there were the posts of some hyper-defensive Bruce Lee fans claiming Ward lied about living in the same building as Lee. If they bothered to do their research, they would know that Lee's friend and student M. Uyrehara shined a revealing light on the Ward/Lee relationship on page 71 of his book, Bruce Lee: The Incomparable Fighter--
When Bruce started to earn more money from his television series, he moved to Barrington Plaza, a plush apartment high-rise located in West Los Angeles. He never mentioned to me why he had settled there, but I had a feeling he did it because Burt Ward was there.
If that was not enough, Uyrehara goes on to say--
Bruce's interest in Ward started to wane after both series were taken off the air, but he still maintained some interest until the very end. Somehow, Bruce knew the whereabouts of Ward even while he was living in Hong Kong.

As mentioned in the Catwoman Goes to College / Podcast thread, even while Lee was struggling to establish a film career in Hong Kong, away from his family, and right up to the point of his death (remember how many years after the end of Batman that was--how Ward pretty much stopped acting after the series, and Batman was off of the bigger cultural landscape in the early 70s) he had and interest in and knew where Ward was.

M. Uyrehara knew Lee well in those years--certainly more than the defensive fans who want to separate Lee from Ward as if there were no connections beyond the set. Clearly, there were, with Lee having an interest lasting until his death, but you will never see certain people responding to that YouTube video ever admitting that they attacked Ward and had no facts to back up the ranting.

So, as always, history easily exonerates those accused of being habitual liars. One has to consider if Ward has been honest about the apartment building story, its possible he's as honest about other events.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by Kamdan »

I've really hated how Ward has tried to take credit for stunts Victor Paul performed. He definitely got hurt with the sparks from the Mr. Freeze episodes, but still he's taken a lot of credit when it's due for others.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

No different than Chuck Norris barely wanting to acknowledge his brother (Aaron) performing some of the more acrobatic moves in his place (as a double) in several productions. Even Bruce Lee (and various people who worked with him) did not give credit for the man (Yuen Wah) who performed the backflips & somersault over the students in the opening of Enter the Dragon. It took years before the identity of the man was revealed. Similarly, Steve McQueen did not want anyone to know his friend Bud Ekins performed the legendary motorcycle jump in The Great Escape and was the driver of the Mustang in Bullitt. In other words, it happens--and is by no stretch of the imagination--not isolated to Burt Ward.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by Kamdan »

Right, but those were movies and they didn't expect people to freeze frame and analyze who did what. The time has come it was pretty obvious even before the Blu-rays that Paul did his fair share of work on the show and wasn't just "having coffeee with Adam." Then again, at a weekly paycheck of $350 co-starring on a TV show, he did get screwed by the producers.

And it seems that Ward had a bit of a bloated head when it comes to fellow people talking about him on the show, so it's all part of his act.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

Kamdan wrote: Tue Aug 22, 2017 6:04 pm Right, but those were movies and they didn't expect people to freeze frame and analyze who did what.
No, they were comfortable allowing audiences to think they performed memorable stunts--some coming to define (in part) the movies where they appeared. That's a far greater act of deception than anything said by Ward.

Moreover, if movie actors did not have the expectation of their films freeze framed and analyzed, that would be more applicable to TV series. Since the dawn of home video (Beta, VHS, Video/ Laserdiscs), TV series were among the last entertainment content to be released, while hundreds of movies dating back to the silent era were released for anyone to scan and study for every detail.

The time has come it was pretty obvious even before the Blu-rays that Paul did his fair share of work on the show and wasn't just "having coffeee with Adam."
Ward performed the lion's share of his stunts when it mattered (for the camera), and is clearly seen in endless fights in medium shots in all three seasons and the movie. Adding to that, Paul never performed any of the unfortunately rare martial arts moves--that too, was all Ward, as seen in "When the Rat's Away the Mice Will Play", (Riddler) the movie, "The Penguin's Nest", "The Great Escape" (Shame) and other episodes. Certainly, that's a greater, more involved contribution than merely riding around on a bike/driving a car, but the showpiece scene was completely handled by another person.

In addition to aforementioned Bruce Lee, his Enter the Dragon co-star--Jim Kelly--was a championship-winning martial artist, but he too used a double to perform more acrobatic stunts in his film Black Belt Jones, and you would be hard-pressed to find a credit for the double in the film, or anywhere else for decades--but the actor(s) were fine with letting the public think it was a one-man act.

And it seems that Ward had a bit of a bloated head when it comes to fellow people talking about him on the show, so it's all part of his act.
Ward was the second lead of a major TV series. He's not alone in feeling important on that series. Contrast that with the ever-whining George Takei (Sulu from Star Trek) who has spent decades trying to trash William Shatner for alleged scene stealing/line hogging (nevermind that Leonard Nimoy and his agent--as matter of record--did the same thing) and other things that (somehow) held his character and career back, when he was just a day player.

Takei behaves as if Sulu were one of the named stars (Shatner, Nimoy or Kelley), yet I rarely see anyone accusing him of having an inflated sense of self-importance to that series, when its clear he did/does to this day. The point being that a convention-glorified day player was not a star, yet he's excused for decades of trash talking, yet Ward--literally the other half of the series leads--is targeted.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by Dan E Kool »

BATWINGED HORNET wrote: Sat Aug 19, 2017 4:04 am So, as always, history easily exonerates those accused of being habitual liars. One has to consider if Ward has been honest about the apartment building story, its possible he's as honest about other events.
I wouldn't go that far. Burt Ward has obviously been very loose with the truth when recalling his heydays, to put it mildly. Even someone who's unfamiliar with martial arts can just look at Ward and Lee - the way they stand and move and throw a punch or a kick - to known that Ward's tales of often matching Bruce Lee in sparring matches must be greatly exaggerated. I have no doubt that Lee was very competitive with Ward, but I think that competition extended only to their TV careers and little else.

You've mentioned many other actors who've been similarly, er, inventive in their tales, but I don't see how that makes Ward's lies any more truthful. As I'm sure all of us are here, I'm still a fan of Ward's portrayal of Robin in the '60s TV show I don't blame him stretching the truth. You go on these talk shows or to these conventions or even write a book, and you want to tell the fans what they want to hear. Fine. As you've said, all of Hollywood does it. But I think as fans it's right to point out when it was actually a stunt man, etc, to share the credit that they might not get otherwise.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by Kamdan »

I got to give the interviewer credit for citing the specific accident that happened on camera during the Mr. Freeze episodes where he had to have his arm wrapped and his cape covering his arm. Ward completely glossed over that and jumped into the familiar story about the pilot.

Victor Paul is clearly in the Batmobile pull out scene. If Ward did pull his finger out, Paul stepped in while Ward was taken care of. If anyone was in danger getting hurt in that scene where they blew the wall up was Gorshin since he looked visibly thrown back from the blast. Ward probably had a lot of ringing in his ear.
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by bat-rss »

Hornet -- it's "M. Uyehara" -- no "r" :) https://www.amazon.com/M-Uyehara/e/B004N4J636
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Re: Long Burt Ward Interview at Comic Book Central

Post by Mr.Freeze »

"Chinese Hercules" star Michael Chan was a friend of Lee 1971-73 , anyway he was a real fighter but did not even dare to challenge Lee after he met him , he was very impressed.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cNw6gbMWoNI
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