20 Things You Somehow Missed In Batman Returns
6. The Penguin’s Parents
Instead of it all being the child’s fault, people often assume that there must be something wrong with the parents. In The Penguin’s case, this might be true.
Both Tucker and Esther Cobblepot are part of Gotham’s elite, but they are horrified enough to rid themselves of their new-born son, Oswald when they discover his physical deformities and he subsequently kills their pet cat (this film really is not very kind to cats, is it?).
The original plan was for Burgess Meredith, the acting genius who portrayed The Penguin in the Adam West era, to portray Tucker Cobblepot, but he was sadly too ill to take the role.
This did, however, offer up an opportunity for a new chapter to be written in The Penguin’s unpleasant history, so Burton (who had greater creative control over Batman Returns) decided to cast Paul Reubens in the role. Reubens had portrayed Pee-wee Herman in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, which was Burton’s debut as a feature length film director. His co-star from that film, Diane Salinger portrayed Esther Cobblepot.
In a roundabout way (and with some prosthetics), Reubens would reprise the role of The Penguin’s father in Gotham roughly 23 years later. Cast as Elijah Van Dahl, Reubens was far more of a father to Robin Lord Taylor’s Oswald Cobblepot than he was to Danny DeVito’s The Penguin. Also of note is the fact that Carol Kane’s Gertrude Kapelput shared more than a passing resemblance to Diane Salinger’s Esther Cobblepot in the series.