Adam West an amazing talent, says Batman co-star Burt Ward

Actor Burt Ward, who played Robin alongside Adam West's Batman in the hit 1960s TV series, has paid tribute to his co-star who has died aged 88.

Ward, 71, told the BBC that the two had enjoyed "an amazing friendship", describing the actor as "a lot of fun".

He said they had played the Dynamic Duo "on multiple levels" to please the show's varied audience.

West died in Los Angeles on Friday after a short battle with leukaemia, his family said.

The TV series, with its kitsch costumes, comic book fight scenes and corny one-liners, drew a cult following.

Tributes to West have flooded in from the acting world and also from thousands of fans.

"This is a wonderful man who I've spent 75% of the time on this earth working with, who has been a pleasure, just amazing talent, a great father, a great family man, a wonderful human being, just a lot of fun and I'm going to miss him incredibly. In fact it's very difficult to really believe that the end has come," Ward told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"Adam and I have had the most amazing friendship, just for whatever reason we instantly got along.

"We share a similar type of humour, we had the best time on Batman and it really showed through."

Ward said he and West knew the show was being enjoyed by all age groups.

"We were playing it on multiple levels, we were playing with our audience, we used to say that we put on our tights to 'put on' the world."

He added: "For the kids it was serious hero worship, for the adults it's the nostalgia, the comic book, and for that very difficult audience at that time to capture - the teenagers and the college kids - it was the insinuations, the double entendres, all the things that nobody had ever done with an audience."

Fellow actor Julie Newmar, who played the Caped Crusader's arch enemy Catwoman, described West as "stellar, exemplary, he was a king to the end".

"He was bright, witty and fun to work with. And I'll miss him in the physical world and savour him always in the world of imagination and creativity," she told the BBC World Service.

"Adam West was the best Batman of all time. I don't think there'll be one to compare with him. He was, of course, the original, but still all in all the best, not only for that time but for all time."

On Saturday, actor Val Kilmer, who played Batman in a later movie, tweeted: "Ah dear Adam West. He was always so kind when we met. A real gent. Once when I was a kid we found ourselves in front the Batmobile. I got in."

After the TV series and a Batman movie in which he also starred, West struggled to find big acting roles.

However, he won a new generation of fans in more recent times after joining the cast of the animated comedy series Family Guy.

He voiced Quahog's eccentric Mayor Adam West, described by series creator Seth MacFarlane as an "alternate universe", satirised version of the actor.

MacFarlane paid tribute to the star on Twitter, saying he had "lost a friend" and described West as "irreplaceable".