R.I.P. Kevin Conroy, the longtime voice of Batman
His voice career as the Caped Crusader spanned 30 years, beginning with Batman: The Animated Series
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Kevin Conroy, who spent decades working as the voice of Batman in television, films, and video games, has died at the age of 66. Warner Bros. confirms his death this morning.
Conroy first lent his voice to Bruce Wayne and Batman in 1992's Batman: The Animated Series. He would go on to voice the brooding Gotham hero in 15 films, 400 episodes of TV, as well as video games.
“Kevin was far more than an actor whom I had the pleasure of casting and directing—he was a dear friend for 30+ years whose kindness and generous spirit knew no boundaries,” casting and dialogue director Andrea Romano tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Kevin’s warm heart, delightfully deep laugh and pure love of life will be with me forever.”
“Kevin was perfection,” says Mark Hamill, who voiced The Joker in the acclaimed animated series, among other projects. “He was one of my favorite people on the planet, and I loved him like a brother. He truly cared for the people around him—his decency shone through everything he did. Every time I saw him or spoke with him, my spirits were elevated.”
Diane Pershing, who voiced Poison Ivy in Batman: The Animated Series, broke the news of Conroy’s death on her Facebook page.
“Very sad news: our beloved voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, died yesterday,” she writes. “He’s been ill for a while but he really put in a lot of time at the cons, to the joy of all of his fans. He will be sorely missed not just by the cast of the series but by his legion of fans all over the world… RIP, friend.”
Born in 1955, Conroy grew up in Westport, Connecticut. He would go on to study acting at Juilliard, bumping elbows with peers such as Christopher Reeves and Robin Williams. His career would take him from the stage to television shows and soap operas before he snagged the life-changing role of Wayne/Batman for Bruce Timm’s animated series.
“I remember Mark and I were at the WB sound studio to do ADR work and we got to watch the opening credits,” Conroy reminisced back in 2017.
“We hear the opening theme with the strings and the lush colors. It was incredibly dramatic. And I looked at Mark and said, ‘Did you have a clue this is what we were doing?’ He said, ‘No, I’m blown away!’ We both felt we were a part of something really special.”
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Man only 66 for real?Tv show was great as I remember it.R.I.P. animated Batman
You’re G-d damned right you are! RIP…
Good. It needed to be said one more time.
Kevin Conroy is the standard by which I, and probably many many others, judge Batman. Not just the voice either. Even with live actors, I judge them if they can bring the kind of emotion and gravitas to the role that Conroy was able to with just his voice. Some of them do well, but none will ever top him. He is Batman.
RIP Kevin Conroy
Something I find particularly impressive about Conroy’s performance is how compelling he could be when it came time for Batman to explain the mystery of the episode and how he’d figured out all the clues. (Obviously a big part of Riddler stories.) It could often be a pretty hefty lump of exposition, and there’s a chance you as a viewer might have already figured these things out, but he could make these bits just as gripping as any of his “I am the night!” type monologues.
There will be a bunch of hot takes soon about whether he’s the best batman ever, but it really hardly matters. What’s without a doubt true is that he defined the character as much as any one person could.
In the animated series, the video games, and the various other media appearances related, he developed his batman character as at once suave, passionate, surly, fatherly, and heroic. He was multi-faceted, able to sell operatic lines like ‘I am the night!’ with the same sincerity as sadder quieter moments like him telling Ace she’s going to die. Conroy’s voice work is no small part of the huge success of Batman: The Animated Series, and he only got better as time went on.
His death leaves a hole that won’t be fillable. He was, to many of us, something akin to a silver-screen legend: a personality that radiated class and dignity in a genre still finding its feet. His moment of grief in ‘Mask of the Phantasm’ at his parents’ grave, as he chokes out ‘I never counted on being happy’ gives me goosebumps as I type this out. So rest in peace to one of the greats.He was Vengeance. He was the night. He was Batman.
Doubt you’ll see many of those hot takes, he’s pretty universally considered to be among the best portrayers of Batman
Some of those core Batman concepts – that Batman is real and Bruce is the cipher, that he’s still emotionally stuck as a child, that he has to fight so hard not to become one of the monsters he fights – are, in my opinion, better expressed in the animated series than in any of the movies or even a lot of the comics. And Conroy giving it 100% on the vocal performance is a huge part of that.
Aw shit.
Perhaps his crowning moment is the Justice League episode with the alternate evil League members. Conroy recorded the entire scene where Batman confronts his evil version in a single take, switching back and forth between the subtly different voices flawlessly.
He was the only person who ever really nailed different voices for Batman and Bruce Wayne without (ironically) making the distinction cartoonish. For almost two decades we’ve had movie after movie where actors adopt over-the-top grunts and growls for “Batman,” whereas Conroy achieved it with the slightest changes: A little more lilt and energy in Bruce’s voice, a touch of baritone and deliberate pacing for Batman’s.
His Bruce Wayne sounds just a little bit foppish, but not enough to make you think, “He’s built like a linebacker, but he sounds like that?”
That’s because he played the character as Batman pretending to be Bruce Wayne — that’s why Batman had the more natural sounding voice while Wayne’s was forced.
I think another interesting thing about his Bruce was that he also walks the line between capable executive and dopey playboy. He definitely seems like the guy who can negotiate contracts and is charming enough with women, but doesn’t really know what to do with them once he gets them. Which dovetails well with being the Batman. “Oh, I went out with Bruce a few times, but it was never going to last. He’s actually kind of a dork!”
His Batman voice is so stripped back. It’s him speaking without having to try to sound pleasant or engaging. It’s cold and detached, and then he can turn up the menace a little bit when he wants to scare someone.
This is DC Animation’s biggest loss since Dwayne McDuffie died. If we were still in office, I bet the vibe there would be similar.I think that most people my age or younger hear Kevin’s voice when reading Batman dialogue. He leaves quit a legacy behind him. At least Kevin Conroy got to see how much his work was appreciated by fans and the love was reciprocated.
His is the voice in my head when I read the comics, this is an incredible loss to comic and animation fans.
The I’m am the Night speech was just perfect. Him being mad at Clark all the time early on in Justice league was also great and him telling Supes at his grave how he felt was also amazing.RIP to Batman and an actor/voice actor that gave me so much joy.RIP Captain Sunshine….god he was great in those couple of Ventrue Bros episodes.
I cried when I first heard the news.Then I put on a cape and beat up a clown.A rich full day.
Yea I could find a clown so I punched a local ventriloquist and then spit on a penguin
I doubt there will ever be anyone else who defined the character so completely.
This one hurt, man. Conroy was my Batman. He’s the standard. The bar by which all other portrayals are judged. He nailed the Bruce Wayne side of Batman as brilliantly as he did the Bat. Grew up watching his Batman; he’s the voice I hear when I read or think Batman, you know? RIP to a legend.
I know a big compliment is for people to say; “You were my childhood!” But the real truth is that Kevin Conroy was bigger than your childhood, my childhood, all of ours. He WAS BATMAN!! A concept bigger than we can all comprehend. A cultural connection that unites everything.I hope he left knowing how impactful he was, or at least how much we all loved him. I like to think he did.Rest in Peace, knowing the Dark Knight always will watch over us.
All the billions of dollars they’ve spent on live-action movies and all the millions they’ve spent on actors, and none of them are close to being as good as Kevin Conroy and the animated series.
I hate to interrupt an obit with complaints about the writing but:“Christopher Reeves”That’s just unacceptable
“Oh no that’s a plural of Christophers Reeve. There were multiple Christopher Reeve’s at Julliard you see so…I…uh…Listen, since the union busting and loss of Simpsons coverage, be lucky this site is still limping along.”
As the official internal pluralizer around here, I must inform you that it would be Christophers Reeve.
My thanks to you and the your fellow dirtsside.
It’s unfortunately easy to mix up with George Reeves.
It is, and I probably double check myself any time I write his name. But that’s the point: I check, even on my pointless Internet posts.
Most live-action actors lean into a special voice for Batman. Kevin Conroy did the opposite; he made it seem like “Batman” was his natural speaking voice and that “Bruce Wayne” was the affectation.
Such an integral part of my childhood. This one will hurt for a while. Incredibly, we’ve still never gotten a performance like this from any other Batman:
“Mask Of The Phantasm”And how can anyone ignore Shirley Walker’s dramatic music score?
That clip just shows how good Conroy’s performance was. Listen to the voice at the grave: it’s not as deep or flat as the Batman voice, but it’s not quite a jocular or flip as the affected Bruce Wayne of his public appearances. It’s a mid-point, and a distinct third vocal style for the one character.
This is a gut punch. His perfect Batman performances gave me so much joy, from childhood watching Batman the Animated Series to adulthood glued to the Arkham games.
Every interview I read with him also showed him to be just a great, thoughtful human being too.
Thank you for all of the great performances Mr. Conroy. Rest in Peace.
The way my brain is wired, I don’t really express emotion very often or even very well. But when I saw this headline, I literally gasped, hand reflexively covering my mouth. I’m gutted. I grew up on The Animated Series. It was what properly introduced me to Batman and, probably, superheroes in general. It set the gold standard for everything else I watched as a kid. Frankly, nothing could measure up. It was an action cartoon that didn’t talk down to its young audience, and Kevin Conroy was the backbone of the show.To me, he will always be THE quintessential Batman. Not Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney, Affleck, Pattinson, or even West. Just Kevin. Thank you, Kevin. You were perfect and had no equal.
He was the only actor who brought a sense of joy to the character and the world of Batman, which is why everyone has such positive memories of The Animated Series. Whereas with the movies, they try so hard to insist on their seriousness that they’re often just not fun.
His tombstone should just have a bat symbol. No words. And maybe the spotlight. On always.
I let out a “NO!” at work when I learned this news. RIP to a legend.
Processing this, I come back to this line from Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker that feels quite apt right now in honor of Mr. Conroy and what he meant to many of us:“It’s not Batman that makes you worthwhile; it’s the other way around.”
Kids, Daddy’s Batman died. If you see me crying I’m not hurt, just very sad.Lets watch some cartoons.