in the 90's TAS, he was a dashing super secret spy who came to work for the Waynes after he and his old partner - who i think also became a butler - parted ways.
Alfred then became Michael Caine. You may have seen him in a recent film. The Dark Knight. Michael Cain is pretty cool.
and then you have "Can I persuade you to take a sandwich with you sir" Alfred. He was kind of the same thing as TAS Batman. Maybe just a tad more emo-er in Batman & Robin. Ok, maybe a lot more emo-er. Especially when he was programmed in the ba-ba-ba-ba-batcomputer.