Penguin (character) rebuild. The Penguin is in the 1960s "Batman" television series, in which he was portrayed by Burgess Meredith. Spencer Tracy was offered the role but he said he would only accept the role if he was allowed to kill Batman. Meredith's performance is perhaps best remembered for his signature laugh, meant to mimic the squawk of a penguin. (One cause of the laugh was the cigarettes the character always smoked, which irritated Meredith's throat as he was a non-smoker.) His thugs wear black bowler hats and dark clothing adorned with names of various animals of prey, such as birds ("Hawk")
Burgess Meredith Theater Royal in Bath, England in 1963. He played Hamlet in "avant garde" theatrical and radio productions of the play. A distinguished theatre director, he won a Tony Award nomination for his 1974 Broadway staging of "Ulysses in Nighttown", a theatrical adaptation of the "Nighttown" section of James Joyce's "Ulysses". Meredith also shared a Special Tony Award with James Thurber for their collaboration on "A Thurber Carnival" (1960). In the late seventies, he directed Fionnula Flanagan's one-woman multi-role play "James Joyce's Women," which toured for several years. Early in his career, Meredith attracted favorable attention, especially for playing George in