12 Most Notorious Batman Urban Legends
11. Batman 1966's Set Was An Orgy (And Burt Ward Did Porn)
Verdict: True-ish and Untrue
In 1991, former Boy Wonder Burt Ward released a "tell-all" expose of his time as Robin, which effectively painted a picture of the set as a constant orgy, fuelled by free-running sex (which Adam West couldn't complete sometimes) and debauchery.
One interview released at the time, selling the book to potential audiences includes a raft of lurid revelations, though all introduced with the caveat that it was the 60s and everyone was boinking everyone else, so it was fine:
"Well first of all, good question...people did know about. The people on the show. I mean when you come into the set at 7:30 in the morning and you come out of make-up and the first thing you know, the ladies start coming into our dressing rooms at 7:45. We're talking about wild times in the dressing rooms, on the set, between the shots, in the lunch wagon. When we got home at night after fourteen hours on the set, I think we redefined the meaning of the word pleasure pad. And then of course, doing the personal appearances on the weekend, that's where it really got wild. And I have to be honest with you, we became like sexual vampires."
It all sounds too weird to be true, which it partly was. Later - presumably after cashing his check from the book sales - Ward admitted that he was goaded by the publishers to make the book more interesting, and just made most of it up, including his vengeful claims of West's failure to perform sexually.
As a weird side-conspiracy, it was widely alleged (particularly before the age of IMDB) that Burt Ward did porn after struggling to find work post-Batman. He did no such thing (and married into a millionaire family, so it's not like he needed to). Perhaps the rumour came from this quote about his Batman audition?
"To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know what I was trying out for. The producers didn't tell me. I remember that I went in for my screen test and two guys pulled off my pants and pulled on these leotards. I was afraid I was auditioning for a porno flick."