100 Fun Facts About Batman (1966 TV Series)

Who played Bruce Wayne/Batman in the 1966 series?

Adam West played it so straight that typecasting stalled his career for years, reducing him to paid appearances in his cape and cowl at car shows and carnivals.

Who played Dick Grayson, Batman's teenage sidekick, in the 1966 series?

Burt Ward had trained in karate and did many of his own stunts, which by his own account kept landing him in hospital.

Which US network aired the 1966 Batman series?

ABC planned an hour-long show, then split each story across Wednesday and Thursday nights when two half-hour slots came free. Both nights ended the season in the top ten.

In the first episode of the 1966 Batman series, the Caped Crusader breaks into which dance?

The Batusi has Batman drawing two fingers past each eye like a mask, and the show's star later claimed he made the moves up himself.

How did the 1966 Batman series film Batman and Robin scaling the walls of buildings?

With a sideways camera: the pair walked along a flat floor with their capes held up by strings. The gag let film stars pop out of windows, as so many wanted to be on the show.

Which actor played the Joker in the 1966 Batman series?

Cesar Romero refused to shave off his trademark moustache for the part, so the Joker's white makeup was simply smeared over it, in every episode and in the 1966 film.

Who played the Penguin in the 1966 Batman series?

Burgess Meredith had watched his screen career stall when he was blacklisted in the 1950s. Playing the Penguin made him popular all over again.

In the 1966 Batman series, why did the Penguin's actor improvise his trademark quack?

To avoid coughing: the Penguin's cigarette holder held a real lit cigarette, and the smoke kept catching in his throat, so he covered each cough with a squawk.

Who played Catwoman in the first two seasons of the 1966 Batman series?

Julie Newmar made the costume her own, moving the belt from her waist down to her hips to show off her figure. One of her catsuits is now in the Smithsonian.

Who took over as Catwoman for the third season of the 1966 Batman series?

Eartha Kitt played the part in the 1967-68 season. In January 1968 she criticised the Vietnam War at a White House lunch, and her American career went into a steep decline.

In the 1966 Batman series, Robin's famous exclamations all begin with which word?

Holy: the blank was filled to suit the moment, so the 1966 film alone has "Holy sardine!", "Holy Polaris!" and "Holy heart failure!".

Who was the original Riddler in the 1966 Batman series?

Frank Gorshin earned an Emmy nomination for the part. But when his agents asked for more money, the show refused and briefly recast the role.

Which Addams Family star briefly played the Riddler in season two of the 1966 Batman series?

John Astin filled in for a single two-part story while the regular Riddler's agents held out for more money. The original actor was back for the third season.

Who played Batgirl in the third season of the 1966 Batman series?

Yvonne Craig had been the youngest dancer in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and that training helped when it came to performing Batgirl's stunts.

In the 1966 Batman series, what is Barbara Gordon's day job?

Librarian: in the short film made to sell the character to the network, crooks lock her in a library lounge, which happens to hide her costume in a secret closet.

Why was Batgirl added to the 1966 Batman series for its third season?

To win more female viewers: ratings were sliding, young boys made up much of the audience, and the producer reckoned a heroine could bring in just as many girls.

Who played Alfred the butler in the 1966 Batman series?

Alan Napier recalled that he had never read a comic and asked his agent, "What is Batman?" He took the job on hearing it might be worth over $100,000.

Which regular character was invented for the 1966 Batman series rather than taken from the comics?

Chief O'Hara was created for the show, and within months the comics had borrowed him. Aunt Harriet looks like a TV invention too, but she reached the comics first.

Who was the uncredited narrator of the 1966 Batman series?

William Dozier, the executive producer, voiced it himself. He had been unhappy to be handed a comic-book show at all, until he saw it could play to adults as well as children.

The star of the 1966 Batman series was spotted playing a Bond-style spy in an ad for which product?

Nestle Quik: the ads cast him as a James Bond-type spy, and he was away in Europe shooting a spaghetti Western when the producer sent for him.

Which future Carol Burnett Show regular screen-tested for the lead in the 1966 Batman series?

Lyle Waggoner filmed his screen test alongside a would-be Robin of his own. The footage survived and was released on DVD decades later.

Lorenzo Semple Jr., who wrote the pilot of the 1966 Batman series, later scripted which 1980 space adventure?

Flash Gordon got the same deliberately over-the-top comic-strip treatment he had devised for Batman, whose pilot he wrote while living in Spain.

In its first year the 1966 Batman series was nominated for an Emmy as outstanding what?

Comedy series: the superhero show was filed alongside sitcoms such as Bewitched and Get Smart, and lost to The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Batman belongs to Warner Bros., but which rival studio produced the 1966 TV series?

20th Century Fox owned the footage while DC Comics owned the characters, and the show only reached home video in 2014, when Warner released it under licence from Fox.

Whose 1964 screenings of the 1943 Batman serial are said to have helped inspire the 1966 series?

Hugh Hefner's Playboy screenings in Chicago drew so much attention that Columbia put the two-decade-old serial back into cinemas the following year.

Who composed the theme tune of the 1966 Batman series?

Neal Hefti called the simple-sounding theme the hardest piece he ever wrote. He tore up a lot of paper and nearly gave up on it, then won a Grammy for it.

What do the lyrics of the 1966 Batman theme consist of?

A single repeated word: eight singers cry "Batman!" in harmony with the trumpets. The show's own star later misremembered the voices as horns.

What name was given to the merchandising craze set off by the 1966 Batman series?

Batmania filled the shops with Batman merchandise, and the producers had a feature film in cinemas within months of the first episode.

Which sign-off closed the cliffhanger episodes of the 1966 Batman series?

Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel! At first the promise was literal: the second half of each story aired the very next night, in the same slot.

The 1966 Batman series often films its villains at a tilt to hint that they are what?

Crooked: the tilted shots, known as Dutch angles, were used mostly in the villains' lairs, and each villain is said to have had an angle of their own.

Why did NBC reportedly drop its plan to pick up the 1966 Batman series after its cancellation?

The sets had been destroyed: in the co-star's telling, NBC was ready to take the show until it learned that rebuilding them would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The 1966 Batmobile fetched over $4 million in 2013, but what had its builder paid for the car underneath?

$1: customiser George Barris bought the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car from Ford for a token dollar, and later rebuilt it as the Batmobile in a matter of weeks.

Which horror film star played the villain Egghead in the 1966 Batman series?

Vincent Price got a villain invented just for the show. Egghead, who calls himself the world's smartest criminal, lards nearly every line with egg puns.

In the 1966 Batman series, a blow to the head makes Victor Buono's mild professor believe he is which pharaoh?

Tutankhamun: the Egyptologist was first knocked out during a student riot, and every later knock on the head flips him between King Tut and mild-mannered teacher.

Which Western-themed villain did Cliff Robertson play in the 1966 Batman series?

Shame is a send-up of Shane, hero of the classic Western, and his sidekicks Okie Annie and Calamity Jan spoof Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane.

Who played the flower-loving gangster Louie the Lilac in the 1966 Batman series?

Milton Berle had been America's "Mr. Television" in the 1950s. His Louie sets out to win control of Gotham's hippie "flower generation".

Which villain had scripts written for the 1966 Batman series but never appeared, with Clint Eastwood reportedly lined up?

Two-Face had a finished teleplay and several plot outlines in the producer's files, and would almost certainly have appeared had the show run to a fourth season.

Which future martial arts film star twice appeared as Kato in the 1966 Batman series?

Bruce Lee was new to American audiences at the time. His second visit ends with the two pairs of heroes squaring off, until the police arrive before anyone can win.

Which CBS sci-fi adventure aired directly opposite the Wednesday episodes of the 1966 Batman series?

Lost in Space was chasing the same young viewers, and after Batman's runaway success its second season turned brighter and sillier in imitation.

Who wrote "Boy Wonder, I Love You", the 1966 single recorded by the actor who played Robin?

Frank Zappa wrote and arranged the novelty single, on which Robin reads out letters from his adoring fans. It came out at the height of the show's popularity.

Which famous pianist guest-starred in the 1966 Batman series as both a concert star and his criminal twin?

Liberace played both Chandell, a concert pianist blackmailed into crime for secretly using a player piano, and Harry, the gangster twin doing the blackmailing.

In a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series, the star of the 1966 show voiced which washed-up TV hero?

The Gray Ghost is the old TV show young Bruce Wayne grew up watching, so the Batman of the 1960s plays the hero who inspired the new one.

Which animated sitcom cast the star of the 1966 Batman series as its town's mayor, under his own name?

Family Guy made him the mayor of Quahog from 2000 until his death in 2017, and its creator says he deliberately kept Batman references out of the part.

In which 2019 Arrowverse crossover did the Robin of the 1966 Batman series cameo as an older Dick Grayson?

Crisis on Infinite Earths showed him walking a dog beneath a reddening sky, then revealed that the 1966 show's world, Earth-66, was among those destroyed.

Which Star Trek actor voiced the villain of the 2017 animated film that reunited the 1966 Batman cast?

William Shatner played the villain in what became its hero's farewell: the star finished recording his lines, then died four months before the film came out.

Who played Catwoman in the 1966 Batman feature film, replacing the TV show's regular?

Lee Meriwether, a former Miss America, was a last-minute replacement, announced as the start of filming slipped by ten days. She never played the part on the TV show itself.

In the 1966 Batman film, which handy spray rids Batman of the sea creature clamped to his leg?

Bat-shark repellent: one squirt and the beast drops into the sea and explodes. The Penguin is later scolded for relying on a "trained exploding shark".

In the 1966 Batman film, what does Batman run frantically around a pier trying to get rid of?

A smoking bomb: he dashes all over the docks without finding anywhere safe to throw it, prompting his weary line, "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."

In the 1966 Batman film, what does the villains' stolen dehydrator do to its victims?

Turns them to dust: nine world diplomats end up as powder in test tubes, and after a sneeze mixes the piles, they are revived speaking one another's languages.

After Batman took off in 1966, its producer launched which other masked-hero series, cancelled after one season?

The Green Hornet was played straight rather than for laughs and never caught on, lasting a single season to Batman's three.

What flashes across the screen each time a punch lands in the fight scenes of the 1966 Batman series?

Sound-effect words were superimposed over the punches, as in comic-book fight scenes, and a 1966 View-Master set redrew them as black-lined blast balloons.

A switch hidden inside a bust of which writer opens the secret Batpole entrance in the 1966 Batman series?

William Shakespeare hides the switch that slides a bookcase aside to reveal the firepoles, while the butler rides down to the cave in a separate service elevator.

What colour is the Batphone that Commissioner Gordon uses to summon the hero in the 1966 Batman series?

Red was the colour, and the phone sat under a glass cake dome and glowed when it rang, an image so familiar that priority hotlines came to be nicknamed bat phones.

After the star of the 1966 Batman series died in 2017, what did Los Angeles project onto its City Hall?

The Bat-Signal lit up City Hall on June 15, 2017, and his hometown of Walla Walla, Washington, shone one on its landmark Whitman Tower.

What were British children reportedly doing that led the makers of the 1966 Batman series to film a safety warning?

Jumping from heights to copy their hero was the problem, by the producer's account, so Batman himself filmed a warning for British viewers that he cannot fly.

In his first story in the 1966 Batman series, the Joker copies Batman by equipping himself with what?

A utility belt of his own let the Joker fight fire with fire in The Joker Is Wild, and a script of that episode was packed into one edition of the 2014 box set.

What was Mr. Freeze called in the comics before the 1966 Batman series gave the villain his lasting name?

Mr. Zero made his comics debut in 1959, and the publisher adopted the screen name Mr. Freeze after three different actors had played the character under it.

Which cartoon had the 1966 Batman and Robin voice their old roles, trapped on a carousel by a clown?

The Simpsons brought the pair back for the 2002 episode Large Marge, in which Krusty plays a villain called ClownFace and a can of Bat Carousel Reversal Spray saves them.

Which Hungarian-born socialite played Minerva, the last guest villain of the 1966 Batman series?

Zsa Zsa Gabor closed the series in March 1968 by tricking Gotham's millionaires out of their cash, and her former husband George Sanders had been its first Mr. Freeze.

In a third-season episode of the 1966 Batman series, Batman and the Joker go head to head in which sport?

Surfing was the Joker's route to fame over Gotham: he drains the skills of a kidnapped champion with a machine, and Batman steps in when every other contestant drops out.

Which actress, television's Morticia Addams, played Marsha, Queen of Diamonds, in the 1966 Batman series?

Carolyn Jones joined the show in the year The Addams Family ended, and her Marsha was always shadowed by an aunt, a former chemistry professor who believed she was a witch.

Which All About Eve star played two villains in the 1966 Batman series, a magician and a Cossack queen?

Anne Baxter was the magician Zelda the Great in the first season and came back as Olga, Queen of the Cossacks, the partner of the bald mastermind Egghead.

Which director of Anatomy of a Murder played Mr. Freeze in the second season of the 1966 Batman series?

Otto Preminger had acted before, most famously as the camp commandant in Stalag 17, and his Mr. Freeze kidnaps a Miss Iceland he means to marry.

Which star of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was the third Mr. Freeze of the 1966 Batman series?

Eli Wallach said the part brought him more fan mail than all his other roles combined, a list that included the bandit Tuco in that very Western.

Which future Dynasty star played the Siren, a villain with hypnotic powers, in the 1966 Batman series?

Joan Collins put Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne under her spell in 1967, the year she also guest-starred in Star Trek as Edith Keeler.

Which Honeymooners star played the Archer, who robs the rich of Gotham in the 1966 Batman series?

Art Carney opened the second season as a thief who at first gives his loot to the poor, eight years before he made Harry and Tonto, the film that won him the Best Actor Oscar.

Which future Planet of the Apes star played the Bookworm, a villain created for the 1966 Batman series?

Roddy McDowall played the literary crook who fakes Commissioner Gordon's death, and years later he returned to Gotham in animation as the voice of the Mad Hatter.

Which two-time Oscar winner played Ma Parker, who targets Gotham's prison, in the 1966 Batman series?

Shelley Winters had won her second Academy Award, for 1965's A Patch of Blue, not long before she turned up in Gotham as the infamous Ma.

Which star of Hitchcock's Lifeboat played the Black Widow in the 1966 Batman series, one of her last roles?

Tallulah Bankhead robbed banks and mesmerised Batman himself in March 1967, less than two years before her death.

Which pop singer, famous for It's My Party, played Catwoman's minion Pussycat in the 1966 Batman series?

Lesley Gore mimed her new song California Nights on the show in January 1967, and within weeks it had carried her back into the American top twenty.

The Batmobile of the 1966 Batman series was rebuilt from which one-off concept car, hand-built in Italy?

Lincoln Futura was a 1955 show car whose original pearl-white paint was made by grinding the scales of thousands of fish into it.

Which car customiser, builder of the Munster Koach, created the Batmobile for the 1966 Batman series?

George Barris inherited the job when Dean Jeffries, who had begun the design, could not deliver the car as quickly as the studio wanted.

The Batcave exit in the 1966 Batman series is really a short tunnel in which corner of Los Angeles?

Griffith Park holds Bronson Canyon, an old quarry whose tunnel is so short that film crews shoot it at an angle to keep the far opening out of sight.

How does the Batmobile of the 1966 Batman series pull off its quick 180-degree Bat-turn?

With rear parachutes, two of them ten feet across, and when viewers complained about the litter the producers added a pickup crew with its own labelled van.

With only half-hour slots free on its network, how did the 1966 Batman series air in its first two seasons?

Twice a week was the solution: stories planned to fill an hour were cut in half and joined by a cliffhanger, echoing the old movie serials.

Network executives first pictured the 1966 Batman series in the hip style of a hit from which genre?

Spy adventure was the idea, with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as the model, and decades later a comic set in the world of the 1966 show teamed its hero with those very agents.

What had the executive producer of the 1966 Batman series never done before he took on the show?

Read a comic book: he had never opened one, and after studying several for research he decided the show could only work as pop-art camp.

Which villain does Batgirl fight in the unaired short that pitched her for the 1966 Batman series?

Killer Moth was her opponent in the seven-minute pilot, which never aired and was officially released decades later in the complete-series box set.

The first Catwoman of the 1966 Batman series missed season three to film which Gregory Peck Western?

Mackenna's Gold, an ensemble Western with Omar Sharif and Telly Savalas, kept her away, so a new actress took over the catsuit for the final season.

Which late-night host broke the news in 2014 that the 1966 Batman series was finally coming to home video?

Conan O'Brien posted the news on Twitter before the studio confirmed it, and until then only the 1966 feature film had been officially sold on disc in North America.

In a 1966 public service film, Batman urged American schoolchildren to heed President Johnson and buy what?

Savings stamps were a children's version of savings bonds, and the campaign asked pupils to buy them in support of the Vietnam War.

In a 1973 public service film, Batgirl refuses to untie Batman and Robin from a post in protest at what?

Unequal pay was her complaint: she earned less than the Boy Wonder, in breach of the Equal Pay Act, and a stand-in wore the cowl because the series lead was avoiding the role.

Which studio made the 1977 cartoon that reunited the two leads of the 1966 Batman series as voices?

Filmation made The New Adventures of Batman for CBS and saddled the heroes with Bat-Mite, a well-meaning imp whose attempts to help only created more problems.

The second Legends of the Superheroes special of 1979, starring the 1966 Batman and Robin, took what form?

A celebrity roast hosted by Ed McMahon closed the pair of NBC specials, which were shot on videotape with a laugh track like the variety shows of the day.

In 1984 the star of the 1966 Batman series became the voice of Batman in which long-running cartoon?

Super Friends had used another actor as its Batman for more than a decade before the live-action lead took over for the final two seasons.

The star of the 1966 Batman series returned in Batman: The Brave and the Bold to voice which character?

Thomas Wayne, the hero's murdered father, was his role in the episode Chill of the Night!, and the first Catwoman of the old series voiced his wife, Martha.

Which New York ballpark, host to the Beatles a summer earlier, staged a live 1966 Batman show?

Shea Stadium welcomed the show's lead and its Riddler on June 25, 1966, on a tour of corny jokes, warm-up bands and a song from the Caped Crusader.

Which jazz singer, the Velvet Fog, wrote the pop song recorded by the Riddler of the 1966 Batman series?

Mel Tormé, who also wrote the music of The Christmas Song, composed and arranged the 1966 record, on which the villain sings about himself while posing puzzles.

Which English punk band covered the theme of the 1966 Batman series on their 1977 debut album, In the City?

The Jam followed the Who and the Kinks, two earlier English bands that had already recorded the tune.

Which Capitol Records arranger for Sinatra scored the first two seasons of the 1966 Batman series?

Nelson Riddle took the job when the theme's composer became unavailable, wrote the music for the big-screen spin-off as well, then left the third season to Billy May.

Which relative of Dick Grayson lives at Wayne Manor in the 1966 Batman series, oblivious to the Batcave below?

Aunt Harriet had joined the comics in 1964, moving into Wayne Manor after Alfred's apparent death, and more than once came close to uncovering the heroes' secret.

In the first episode of the 1966 Batman series, why must Robin wait outside while Batman visits a discotheque?

He is under age, so the Boy Wonder sits in the Batmobile watching on the Batscope while a drugged glass of orange juice is slipped to Batman inside.

What reason was the Robin of the 1966 Batman series given for having to perform his own dangerous stunts?

His mask hid too little of his face for a double to pass, he was told, though he later learned it was also cheaper, since his stunt double was paid by the stunt.

The actor who played Robin in the 1966 Batman series later co-founded a charity that rescues which animals?

Giant-breed dogs such as Great Danes were the mission of Gentle Giants Rescue, which he and his wife founded in 1994 and ran from their own home.

What do the two episode titles of most two-part stories in the 1966 Batman series do?

They rhyme, as with Hi Diddle Riddle and Smack in the Middle, the two halves of the story that opened the series.

Once Batgirl joined the Dynamic Duo in the 1966 Batman series, the three heroes were sometimes called what?

The Terrific Trio even travelled abroad together, to a city called Londinium, where they battled a gang of criminal aristocrats.

The actress who played Batgirl in the 1966 Batman series had earlier worked professionally as what?

A ballet dancer from her teens, she joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at 17 as its youngest member, training that helped when she performed Batgirl's stunts.

In the 1966 Batman series, Catwoman uses a device to steal the voices of which real English singing duo?

Chad and Jeremy played themselves, and the plan was to hold their voices, and so their whole country, to ransom.

Which Nutty Professor star leans out of a window as Batman and Robin climb a wall in the 1966 Batman series?

Jerry Lewis appeared as himself in a Bookworm story, one of the show's many window cameos, in which a celebrity pops out mid-climb to trade a quip with the heroes.

In the 1966 Batman series, Egghead and a band of Cossacks kidnap Commissioner Gordon and try to hatch what?

A dinosaur was meant to emerge from an ancient egg in the 1967 episode How to Hatch a Dinosaur, the second half of a story that began as The Ogg and I.