Yesterday, actor Kevin Conroy, widely recognized for providing the voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman across various animations and video games as well as live action, passed away at age 66 after a brief battle with cancer.
His start as the Caped Crusader began in 1992 with the iconic Batman: The Animated Series which would continue on to further portrayals in almost 60 different productions, and a live-action Bruce Wayne in the Arrowverse’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event of 2019-2020.
“Kevin was a brilliant actor,” Mark Hamill recalled to DC, who played the Joker opposite Conroy’s Batman. “For several generations, he has been the definitive Batman. It was one of those perfect scenarios where they got the exact right guy for the exact right part, and the world was better for it. His rhythms and subtleties, tones and delivery – that all also helped inform my performance. He was the ideal partner – it was such a complementary, creative experience. I couldn’t have done it without him. He will always be my Batman.”
Earlier this year, Conroy contributed a personal story to DC’s annual Pride Anthology, titled “Finding Batman,” that provides a look into his life with moments and details that many including myself were not aware of. It’s incredibly raw and the stories are told up to the moment Conroy auditions for the role of Bruce Wayne and is asked to identify with a boy who saw his parents murdered before him. The story is a necessary read and DC has made the entire anthology available to read for free as tribute to Conroy.
“Kevin brought a light with him everywhere,” said Paul Dini, producer of Batman: The Animated Series, “whether in the recording booth giving it his all, or feeding first responders during 9/11, or making sure every fan who ever waited for him had a moment with their Batman. A hero in every sense of the word. Irreplaceable. Eternal.”
Conroy is survived by his husband Vaughn C. Williams, sister Trisha Conroy, and brother Tom Conroy.
