After playing the role of a resourceful hero named Captain Q in a Nestle's Quik commercial made in the early 1960s, he caught the eye of ABC executives. The execs thought that he might be right for an upcoming television series that they were about to produce, namely Batman (1966).
[on his typecasting as The Caped Crusader] It was inescapable. I'd just about land something substantial, something I like or a good career move. Then some dinosaur would rear up and say, "But the audience will think of him as Batman." It was formidable. It was there like a brick wall.