Actor and voice-artiste Kevin Conroy, best known for his iconic portrayal of Batman in a number of animated series and films, has died at the age of 66.
The news was first broken by Kevin’s Batman: The Animated Series co-star Diane Pershing before being confirmed by Warner Bros Animation. The actor reportedly died after a brief battle with cancer.
In a statement released by Warner Bros, Mark Hamill, who voiced the Joker opposite Kevin’s Batman in a number of projects, said, “Kevin was perfection. 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.”
Paul Dini, the writer of Batman: The Animated Series, which catapulted Kevin to stardom, also paid tribute to the late actor by sharing a picture of Batman from the show on Twitter. Several other actors have paid tribute after Kevin’s passing.
Although best known as a voice artiste, Kevin began his career in the 80s as a live-action actor. His first gig was in the soap opera Another World, before he moved to theatre for the rest of the decade. It was in 1992 that he first voiced the role that would turn him into a star–Batman aka Bruce Wayne in the iconic show Batman: The Animated Series.
Not only is the show considered one of the best animated series of all time, Kevin’s performance as the superhero set the template for those that followed him, even in live-action films. He is credited to starting the trend of Batman using a heavier, raspier voice as opposed to his alter ego Bruce Wayne.
Kevin reprised his role as Batman in a number of straight-to-video animated films and later found new stardom by starring as Batman again in the Arkham and Injustice video game franchises. In 2019, after a long fan campaign, Kevin finally played Batman in a live-action project as he portrayed an alternate version of an older Bruce Wayne in the Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths.
A noted LGBTQ activist, Kevin was married to his longtime partner Vaughn C. Williams at the time of his death.