Movies - TV
Bruce Lee 'Petrified' Burt Ward During The Green Hornet's Batman Crossover
By MARCOS MELENDEZ
The 1966 “Batman” TV show saw a crossover with another superhero series during its 2nd season, welcoming the Green Hornet (Van Williams) and Kato (Bruce Lee) to the episode. In true crossover fashion, the heroes fight one another during the episode, showing off their skills and leading to a brief showdown between the sidekicks: Kato and Robin (Burt Ward).
While Ward is a martial artist and holds his own in the “Batman” sequences, the actor wasn’t keen on showing his abilities to the incredibly talented Lee. During an interview for the “Remembering Bruce Lee” documentary, Williams revealed, “Burt Ward was absolutely petrified when he was going to work with him, and he didn’t want to work with him.”
The original script had Robin winning the fight, something that Lee had an issue with. Williams explained, “He walked off the show. He said, ‘I’m not going to do that.’ He said, ‘There’s no way that anyone would believe I go in there and fight Robin and lose.’” Although Lee demanded a change to the fight scene, there was no bad blood off-set as Ward said Lee was “a really nice guy.”