Batman actor Kevin Conroy has died at age 66 after a “short battle with cancer,” his representatives confirmed Friday. He was best known for voicing the iconic DC superhero in Batman: The Animated Series and the Arkham video games.
After beginning his career on stage (he played Hamlet in 1984) and appearing in TV shows such as Dynasty, Another World and Cheers, Conroy was cast in a career-defining role as Batman, with the series of animation that started in 1992.
“Kevin’s warm heart, delightfully deep laugh and pure love of life will be with me forever,” Andrea Romano, the director who cast Conroy for the role, said in a statement.
He also played the superhero in the DC follow-up shows Batman Beyond, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, as well as several animated films, including the amazing Mask of the Phantasm. He portrayed a live-action version of the character in the 2019 Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Earlier this year, Conroy wrote a deeply personal story for the DC Pride 2022 comics anthology about how coming out as gay helped him find his voice as Bruce Wayne, whose crusade against crime is driven by the pain of witnessing her parents’ murder.
“It seemed to roar with thirty years of frustration, confusion, denial, love, longing… longing for what? An anchor, a port, a sense of security, a sense of identity,” he wrote in the story Finding Batman. “Yes, I can relate. This is terrain I know well. I heard Batman rise from the bottom.”
Actor Mark Hamill, who played the Joker in the 1990s animated series and Arkham games, praised Conroy as a “brilliant actor”.
“For several generations, he’s been the ultimate Batman. It was one of those perfect scenarios where they got the exact guy for the right part, and the world was better for it,” he said in a statement. “His rhythms and subtleties, his tones and delivery, all of that helped inform my performance as well. He was the ideal partner, it was such a complementary 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 greeting fans. Diane Pershing, who played Poison Ivy in the animated series, noted in a Facebook post that “he will be greatly missed not only by the cast of the series, 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 image on Twitter of Batman looking out over the Gotham City skyline.
“Kevin carried a light with him everywhere he went,” Dini said in a statement. “Whether it’s in the recording booth giving it his all, or feeding the first responders during 9/11, or making sure all the waiting fans got a moment with their Batman. A hero in all senses of the word. Irreplaceable. Eternal.”
In the documentary I Know That Voice, Kevin Conroy tells this unforgettable story about working at a food aid station in Manhattan in the days after 9/11. It’s one of my favorite stories he told about the power of his talents. Rest in peace Mr. Conroy pic.twitter.com/CVb6vLQlEb
— Henry Gilbert (@hEnereyG) November 11, 2022