Burt Ward Turns 80! The ‘Batman’ Legend Reveals the Surprising Thing That Made the Show An Instant Hit (Exclusive)
Our trusty sidekick Robin from the hit 1960s TV series Batman, actor Burt Ward, celebrates his 80th birthday on July 6, 2025. But recently, this caped crusader has gone to the dogs, most literally. He and his wife have saved more than 15,000 dogs and cats through their animal rescue work. Now the married duo wants to save your pets with their healthier pet food, via their Gentle Giants line of food products.
Ward recently took time to chat with ReMIND about his passion for being the “Caine and Cat Crusader,” plus he shared some of his favorite Batman episodes and moments.
Why do you think Batman became a huge hit?
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
Burt: We just had this instant chemistry. I think this is one of the reasons that Batman was so successful. Of course, you’ve got the fact that it was in color. We were one of the first television series in all colors and look how colorful it is. How could you have anything more colorful than Batman, the villains and the Batmobile? That Batmobile became the most famous car in the entire world.
The “Holy this” and “Holy that,” which was a signatory. Even today you have people in everyday life saying, “Holy this” or “Holy that.” They’ll say that all which emanated from our series. All of that was just overwhelming and kids went crazy. In 1968, when we came on primetime twice a week. We were the No. 1 and No. 2 television show in the entire world. There was nothing that came close to us.
What episode of Batman is your favorite?
Everett Collection
Oh, I like all of them. You got to understand — for me — as a young actor, working with these incredible stars, I was the kid in the candy store. Every episode included somebody that I idolized, either by watching them in movie theaters or on TV. Everyone was a superstar to me, and they were incredibly nice. In fact, I learned a kind of famous phrase: “The bigger they are, the nicer they are.” Now I’m not sure about today’s world. But back then, it was the integrity and professionalism, everyone knew their lines perfectly. They were on time. They never missed a take, and it was just a level of precision. It was awesome to watch as a young actor.
Who was your favorite villain — and your favorite Catwoman?
I like all of them. I because all three of the cat women, Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt, they all brought something different, and all did a great job. You must understand for these stars love doing Batman and I’ll tell you why. Because they were limited by that character’s personality and traits in whatever movie or TV show they are doing.
But on Batman, oh no, they could be bigger, broader, larger than life and more evil than anything imaginable. Every one of them went crazy because they could just do whatever they wanted and would not be limited. Listen to Frank Gorshin’s crazy, insane laugh or Cesar Romero’s laugh – both are completely different. These actors loved being on Batman.
> Where Is Original Catwoman Julie Newmar Now?
How many years have you been rescuing dogs?
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
We started rescuing dogs 31 years ago. We have saved more than 15,500 dogs, all which have lived in our house with my wife and me. At any given time, we have 45 to 50 giant breed dogs and some smaller dogs as well. It’s quite an experience, I must tell you. I’m happy to report to you that we have in fact doubled the average lifespan of these dogs. I’ve got five dogs here that are over 20 years of age. One of our customers, his dog on January 3rd of this year turned 31 years of age and has been feeding our food for 16 1/2 years.
How did Gentle Giants pet food come about?
We have created a Gentle Giants dog food. Our food is different than any other pet food in the world. We found out that the people that make pet food really didn’t want us to want to make our food. We have done research on the competitors’ food and some included controversial ingredients that potentially can cause cancer. Something even more disturbing is that every pet food company knows – the average person doesn’t know – is the fatter content put into the pet food, the hungrier it makes the dog or cat. The purpose of that is for them to eat more, to make the average pet owner buy more dog/cat food.
Any pet dog food bag, look on the back next to the ingredients. First listed is crude protein, the second is crude fat. It doesn’t say fat. It says crude fat because that’s the bad fat. The fact is that crude fat is somewhere between 12 and 22% pure saturated fat. Gentle Giant’s fat content is 9% because that’s what’s in the food without adding more.
What drives you?
This is our life’s work, to save animals. We don’t take any salary — we never have, and we never will. People say, ‘wait a minute you’re an actor – you played Robin on Batman — how did you go from being an actor to all of a sudden, saving lives of dogs and cats and making food for them.’ I always say: Batman and Robin, we’re saving Gothamites every week from heinous villains, and I am now the canine and cat crusader.
What’s next for your dog empire?
My wife and I are going to be producing our own television shows and our own feature films. We have our own animation recording studio and right now we’re building our own sound stage. So, we’re going to able to make. Full quality television and feature films right here.
…. STAY TUNED TO THIS SAME BAT-TIME SAME BAT- CHANNEL (that would be ReMIND) FOR MORE Q&A WITH BURT WARD aka ROBIN about all those dangerous BATMAN stunts!!
Remind 