Burgess Meredith had a quacking good time playing The Penguin

Burgess Meredith was an incredibly talented actor, and while he played a great many roles, he is most famous for playing the Penguin in the 1960s Batman series. In fact, during an interview, Meredith joked that playing the Penguin brought him to a new level of fame in the entertainment industry.

"After almost half a century in show business, I've finally established an identity," said Meredith during an interview with the Thanet Times.

Although he enjoyed a lengthy career full of interesting roles, Meredith actually said that, in terms of joy, acting in Batman was the best experience he'd had. The actor explained that it gave him an opportunity to lose the trappings of "traditional" acting that many professional performers get caught up in.

"Why, it's more fun than I've ever had," he said of the series. "It's a veritable acting holiday. I can forget all those orthodox acting do's and don'ts and let myself go. It's difficult to do anything terribly wrong in this part — the hammier I am, the better!" 

Batman plotlines tend to verge into fantastical, a truth that delighted Meredith to no end.

"I have a submarine," he said of one such plotline. "We kidnap a British gentleman who is very reminiscent of Commander Whitehead. He has developed a process for instant dehydration of almost anything — including humans. With this, we reduce the members of the United World Security Council to little piles of dust. Then someone sneezes...well that's just a start."