Movies

Beloved Batman actor Kevin Conroy dies at 66 after battle with cancer

November 13, 2022

Batman actor Kevin Conroy has died aged 66 after a short battle with cancer, his reps confirmed on Friday. He was best known for voicing DC’s iconic superhero in Batman: The Animated Series and Arkham video games.

After starting his career on stage (he played Hamlet in 1984) and appearing on TV shows like Dynasty, Another World and Cheers, Conroy was cast in a career-defining role as Batman, starring the launch of the animated series in 1992.

“Kevin’s warm heart, deliciously deep laugh and pure love of life will be with me forever,” Andrea Romano, the director who cast Conroy in the role, said in a statement.

He also played the superhero in DC’s follow-up shows Batman Beyond, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited, in addition to several animated films, including the incredible Mask of the Phantasm, and video games like Injustice and this year MultiVersus (his last performance in the role). He portrayed a live-action version of the character in the 2019 Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event.

Earlier this year, Conroy wrote a deeply personal story for the 2022 DC Pride comic book anthology about how the struggles he faced as an actor after coming out as gay helped him find his voice as Bruce Wayne, including the crusade against crime is driven by the pain of witnessing the murder of her parents. The Batman DC comics publisher paid tribute to Conroy by making this touching story free to read on its DC Universe Infinite comic book subscription service, he said on Friday.

“It seemed to roar from thirty years of frustration, confusion, denial, love, longing…longing for what? An anchor, a harbor, a sense of security, a sense of identity,” he wrote. in history. Finding Batman. “Yes, I can relate. It’s ground I know well. I felt Batman rising from deep within me.”

Actor Mark Hamill, who played the Joker in the 90s animated series and Arkham games, said in a tweet that he loved Conroy “loved a brother”. He also released a statement hailing him as a “brilliant actor”.

“For several generations he was the definitive Batman. It was one of those perfect scenarios where they had exactly the right guy for the right part, and the world was a better place for that,” he said in a statement. “His rhythms and subtleties, his tones and his delivery – all of that helped to inform my performance as well. He was the perfect partner – it was such a complimentary and creative experience. I couldn’t have done it without him. He will always be my Batman.”

Conroy was also a regular on the convention circuit, warmly greet the fans. Diane Pershing, who played Poison Ivy in the animated series, noted in a Facebook post that he “will be sorely missed not only by the cast of the show but also by his legion of fans around the world.”

Paul Dini, one of the producers of the animated series, paid tribute to the late actor with a solemn tweeted image of Batman looking over the Gotham City skyline.

“Kevin brought a light with him everywhere,” Dini said in a statement. “Whether in the recording booth giving it all, or feed first responders during 9/11, or making sure every fan who’s ever waited for him has a moment with his Batman. A hero in every sense of the word. Irreplaceable. Eternal.”

In the documentary I Know That Voice, Kevin Conroy tells this unforgettable story of working at a food relief station in Manhattan in the days following 9/11. This is one of my favorite stories he told about the power of his talents. Rest in Peace Mr. Conroy pic.twitter.com/CVb6vLQlEb

—Henri Gilbert (@hEnereyG) November 11, 2022