Actor Kevin Conroy, longtime voice of animated 'Batman', passes away at 66 after cancer battle

Los Angeles, United States

Hollywood actor Kevin Conroy, best known for voicing Batman on Warner Bros. long-running television series ‘Batman: The Animated Series,’ passed away at 66 from a short battle with cancer.

According to Variety, from September 1992 until September 1995, Fox Kids broadcast ‘Batman: The Animated Series for a total of 85 episodes. Conroy’s vocal work as Batman received high praise from critics and comic book fans, many of whom viewed the actor as the one and only Batman. Mark Hamill’s iconic portrayal of the Joker was another highlight of the series.

"Kevin was perfection," Hamill said in a statement quoted by Variety. “He was one of my favourite 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.”

Conroy’s portrayal of Batman in several other DC productions, such as the video games ‘Batman: Arkham’ and ‘Injustice,’ was so well-liked because of his performance.

Additionally, he made cameos in a number of DC Universe Animated Original Movies, such as ‘Batman: Gotham Knight’ (2008), ‘Superman/Batman: Public Enemies’ (2009), ‘Justice League: Doom’ (2012), ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ (2016), and ‘Justice League vs. the Fatal Five’ (2019).

Conroy’s final credited appearance as Batman is in the 2019 animated ‘Justice League’ movie. Conroy’s most recent appearance as Batman in a video game was in ‘MultiVersus’ earlier this year.

Conroy made his live-action acting debut in Temstocles Lopez’s 1992 romantic drama ‘Chain of Desire,’ which he also wrote and directed. Additionally, he played a recurrent character on the NBC serial opera ‘Another World’ and made guest appearances on episodes of iconic shows including ‘Cheers,’ ‘Murphy Brown,’ and ‘Dallas.’

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According to Variety, Conroy did voice work for other video games besides Batman. Additionally, he contributed his skills to franchises like ‘Masters of the Universe’ and ‘Scooby-Doo’ (he had a voice role in the 2019 series ‘Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?’). He appeared in episodes of ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’ and ‘Masters of the Universe: Revelation’ on Netflix as Mer-Man in the latter franchise.

Conroy, who was born in Westbury, New York, in November 1955, studied acting at The Julliard School under John Houseman with actors including Christopher Reeve, Frances Conroy, and Robin Williams. He is survived by his husband Vaughn C. Williams, sister Trisha Conroy and brother Tom Conroy.