Burt Ward vs. Bruce Lee

[Silver Nemesis]

This thread is intended as an overview of the infamous showdown between Robin and Kato – and more importantly, their alter egos Burt Ward and Bruce Lee – as well as an investigation into the conflicting accounts of Ward's martial arts training, or lack thereof.

A certain degree of controversy has arisen over the years surrounding Ward's claims to hold a black belt in martial arts. Depending on which interview you read, he claims to hold the rank in either karate or taekwondo. He or his interviewers seem to cite the two separate martial arts as though they were interchangeable. But which, if any, did he train in?

When he auditioned for the part of Robin, Ward demonstrated his karate skills by chopping a wooden board.

According to the November 1968 issue of Black Belt, Ward had no formal martial arts training at this time and performed the demonstration during his screen test by imitating a trick a karate enthusiast had shown him. The false claim that he held a black belt was soon spread by publicists, and his martial arts background was frequently questioned during the promotion of the show.

Concerned about this, Ward then undertook an intensive six month training regimen under the direct tutelage of Young Ik Sou, director of the International Taekwondo Association. The November 1968 issue of Black Belt documents the details of this regimen. It also includes numerous photographs of Ward training with Young Ik Sou.

This six month period coincided with the production of the first season of the TV show, so that by time they shot the 1966 feature film (which went into production immediately after season 1), Ward had completed his training. The November 1968 issue of Black Belt says that Ward studied karate, not taekwondo. The article concludes with the following:

"He had been through all of this grind, had been taught all that the sensei had to offer in his course and theoretically he had emerged from the wars as a brown belt, but the gnawing truth ate away at his insides. True, he was taught the martial art of karate, but in those six gruelling months, how much had he really learned? That was the question."

'Theoretically' being the operative word. Admittedly I've never trained in taekwondo or karate, but I did train in jiu-jitsu for several years when I was a teenager. And progression in jiu-jitsu required us to train for a certain number of months in between each grade test. My best friend back then was a 1st dan black belt in karate, and I remember him too having to train for a set period before being eligible to undertake his next test. It takes years to master any martial art. You can't just do it in a few months. And I'm always suspicious when I hear about movie or TV actors being granted a high rank after just a few weeks or months of training. I see this as hollow PR hype rather than a genuine evaluation of their skill level. Now it may be the case that there's a different system in taekwondo that allows students to progress more quickly. But let's just say I'm a little sceptical that Ward is really a brown belt.

Nevertheless, he does seem to have received some real (albeit limited) martial arts training under the tutelage of a respected instructor. In October 2015 Ward was even inducted into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame:

So that brings us to the infamous Robin vs. Kato fight. There are numerous accounts of tensions behind the scenes in the run-up to filming this sequence.

It's no secret that Kato was originally meant to lose to Robin. Bruce Lee refused to go along with this, so they instead ended the fight with a draw. Numerous sources, including Adam West, state that Lee was trying to psyche out Ward on set by glaring at him and being uncommunicative. These same sources state that Ward was sweating bullets and thought Lee was really going to beat him up. A Newsweek article quoted Green Hornet star Van Williams commenting on the matter:

"Burt Ward was absolutely petrified when he was going to work with him, and he didn't want to work with him. And Bruce got the script, and in the original script he lost to Robin. Well, that didn't go over too good with Bruce. 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.'"

http://www.newsweek.com/bruce-lee-king-fu-martial-arts-390811

The October 1979 issue of Fighting Stars quotes Lee himself as confirming the incident:

"'I had a hard time keeping a straight face,' he said. 'I started to crowd Burt and he began to flap his elbows and jump around me. I was really keeping him scared and I hear someone in the back whisper, 'The black panther and the yellow chicken.' At that point, I burst out laughing. I just couldn't keep a straight face anymore.'"

http://tothebatpoles.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/batscholar-on-episodes-85-and-86.html

Ward himself has denied this, claiming that he and Lee were good friends who used to train together.

If this did indeed happen, it would seem to be a joke Lee was playing on Ward to freak him out. Others have speculated that Lee was annoyed at Ward for claiming to be a brown or black belt in a martial art he'd only studied for six months and wanted to teach him a lesson. Ward claims none of this is true. I've also heard that Ward's stunt double Victor Paul performed most of the fight scene anyway, which would seem to contradict Bruce Lee's account of the incident. I'm sure everyone's already seen it, but here's the finished fight scene:

So what does everyone think about this? Bruce Lee did cultivate friendships with many people in Hollywood, so it's possible Ward was one of them. Was the whole thing a prank Lee played on Ward? Is it all a myth to hype one actor's reputation at the expense of the other? Is Burt Ward really a brown of black belt, or did he exaggerate the extent of his training?

[thecolorsblend]

Let me begin with a few disclaimers:

01- I was enrolled in tae kwon do for a few years as a kid. This was very much the consumer-oriented brand of the art. It was like a drive-thru. You pay your money and then there's your yellow belt waiting on the other side. In other words, don't mistake me for some ninja guy because that's not who I am.

02- Notwithstanding the above, I got into fist fights A LOT as a kid and so I believe I know a few things about how to get through a conflict like that.

Having said all that, one reason I always found it easy to believe Ward had real study under his belt (not just "training for a few months" but actual study) is by his movements, balance and foot work. He's an actor and it's absolutely possible to learn those things without actual study. But if you compare Burt Ward's moves to, say, Sarah Michelle Gellar (or hell, even Sarah Michelle Gellar's fight-double), he's clearly the more practiced and balanced performer.

Does that automatically mean he was studying some kind of martial art the instant he came out of the birth canal? Obviously not. But whether he studied tae kwon do, karate or some other discipline (or if he just got into a bunch of fights in his younger days too), it's obvious to me he's not a rank amateur.

Unless he ever admits otherwise, I probably won't believe he was a total neophyte. Besides, I thought I read somewhere from Ward himself as well as other people in a position to know the truth that Ward and Lee were friends and sparring partners in their pre-Batman and pre-Green Hornet days.

But even if he was a decent faker, I'll hold him in the same regard as Ralph Macchio- an outsider who was only practiced enough to make it look good... but they both made it look very good. So even if he's not completely legit, he still looks amazing when he's doing it.

[thecolorsblend]

Revisiting this. Watched the video above with an eye on SN's remark that Ward's stunt double performed a lot of the fight with Lee. I must say, I didn't remember it going that way. Somehow, over the years I came to "remember" Ward performing those moves himself. But his stunt double seems a bit taller than Ward and he has rather different posture and body language. Seems unmistakable that the double performed a lot of the fight moves.

Boy, your memory can really play tricks on you sometimes. Can't believe I forgot about that. But live and learn, I guess.