Batman: The Animated Series gave the world one of the best voice actors for the role of Batman of the 1990s. Kevin Conroy had been associated with the role of Batman for almost 3 decades. The voice actor recently passed away at the age of 66.
Following the actor’s death, the story of how he landed the role of Batman resurfaced as people mourned their beloved comedian.
When Kevin Conrey got the role without any experience
In an interview originally published in 2017, Vulture describes the overwhelming task of creating Batman: The Animated Series from zero. The series originally aired on Fox Kids, but the high-octane emotions were enough to make adults’ heads spin.
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During the interview, Kevin Conroy revealed an interesting story about how he landed the role of Caped Crusader. Having no previous experience doing anything like this, Conroy was stated to have nailed the role in his first shot. Bruce Timm, who served as the series’ character designer, co-creator, and director, recalled the Kevin Conroy interview.
“Out of the blue, this guy that none of us had ever heard of before walks in. All the women in the room were like, “Oh, he’s dreamy,” because he’s really handsome. And we kind of told him what we were looking for: “A bit like Michael Keaton, but not at all. We want to play, definitely, a distinct difference between his Bruce Wayne voice and his Batman voice.
The duo of Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano, the show’s voice director, immediately looked at each other when Kevin Conroy started talking. As in a eureka moment, the duo decided to cast Kevin Conery for the role of Batman.
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Kevin Conroy had no knowledge of The Dark Knight
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During the same interview, netizens learned that Kevin Conroy had no knowledge of Gotham’s caped vigilante. Speaking to the interviewer, Conroy said his lack of knowledge of Batman wasn’t enough to knock him out of the running for the role.
“I didn’t have any preconceptions about the character either. Bruce Timm said, ‘What do you know about Batman?’ And I said, ‘Well, I know the Adam West show from the 60s.” He said, “Oh, no, no, that’s not what we do! Forget it!” He had to explain to me the legacy of Dark Knight and how dark this character was: “He avenges the death of his parents and he has these dual identities.”
Kevin Conroy continued, “You portray an archetypal hero, almost like a character from Hamlet.” I put it in terms of stage roles that I knew. I let my imagination run wild and just went to [Batman voice] the darkest and most painful part of my voice [returns to normal voice] and he just came out. I saw them getting very excited in the booth.
After his audition, Bruce Timm realized that not only did Kevin Conroy understand the character, but he was also ready to step into the dark side of his character. Following the release of Batman: the animated series (1992), Kevin Conroy continued his career voicing Batman for almost 3 decades. He was also notably known for his voice as Batman in Arkham games such as Arkham Knight. The actor recently passed away on November 10, 2022.
Batman: The Animated Series (1992) is available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: Twitter
