# Pat Hingle

Martin Patterson Hingle (July 19, 1924 – January 3, 2009) was an American character actor who appeared in stage productions and in hundreds of television shows and feature films. His first film was On the Waterfront in 1954. He often played tough authority figures. Hingle was a close friend of Clint Eastwood and appeared in the Eastwood films Hang 'Em High, The Gauntlet, and Sudden Impact. He also portrayed Jim Gordon in the Batman film franchise from 1989 to 1997.

## Early life

Born in Miami, Florida (some sources say Denver, Colorado ), Hingle was the son of a building contractor father and a mother who "worked at menial jobs". He attended high school in Weslaco, Texas, and played tuba in the WHS band. During World War II, Hingle enlisted in the U.S. Navy in December 1941, dropping out of the University of Texas, and served on the destroyer USS Marshall. He returned to UT after the war and earned a degree in radio broadcasting in 1949. As a Navy reservist, he was recalled to the service during the Korean War and served on the escort destroyer USS Damato.

## Career

Hingle began acting in college, and after graduating, he moved to New York and studied at HB Studio and the American Theatre Wing. In 1952, he became a member of the Actors Studio. This led to his first Broadway show, End as a Man.
On Broadway, Hingle performed the role of Gooper in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955). He played the title role in Archibald MacLeish's award-winning Broadway play J.B. (1958), receiving rave reviews.
In February 1959, while playing J.B. on Broadway, Hingle was seriously injured in an accident. He was trapped in the elevator of his West End Avenue apartment building when it stalled between the second and third floors. The elevator stopped four feet above the landing, within reach, and Hingle tried to jump to the second floor. He missed and fell back down the elevator shaft, plunging 30 feet to the bottom. He fractured his skull, wrist, hip and most of the ribs on his left side. He broke his left leg in three places and lost the little finger on his left hand.
On the strength of his performance in J.B., Hingle had been offered the title role of the 1960 film Elmer Gantry, but he lost it to Burt Lancaster because of his injuries. His recovery took months, and at first he could not walk without a cane.
Hingle appeared in the 1963 Actors Studio production of Strange Interlude, directed by Jose Quintero, and That Championship Season (1972). He earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957). In 1997, he played Benjamin Franklin in the Roundabout Theatre revival of the musical 1776, with Brent Spiner and Gregg Edelman.
Hingle's first film role was an uncredited part as bartender Jock in On the Waterfront (1954). Later in his career, he was known for playing judges, police officers and other authority figures. He was a guest star on the early NBC legal drama Justice, based on case histories of the Legal Aid Society of New York, which aired in the 1950s.
Another notable role was as the father of Warren Beatty's character in Splendor in the Grass (1961). Hingle was widely known for portraying the father of Sally Field's title character Norma Rae (1979). He also played manager Colonel Tom Parker in John Carpenter's TV movie Elvis (1979).
Hingle had a long list of television and film credits to his name dating to 1948. Among them were two episodes of The Fugitive (1964), Carol for Another Christmas (1964), Nevada Smith (1966), Mission: Impossible (1967), The Invaders (1967), Hang 'Em High (1968), The Gauntlet (1977), Sudden Impact (1983), Road To Redemption (2001), When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1979), Brewster's Millions (1985), Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive (1986), Baby Boom (1987), The Grifters (1990), Citizen Cohn (1992), Cheers (1993), The Land Before Time (1988), Wings (1996), and Shaft (2000). He played Dr. Chapman in seven episodes of the TV series Gunsmoke (1971), and Col. Tucker in the movie Gunsmoke: To the Last Man (1992). In 1963, Hingle guest-starred in an episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Incredible World of Horace Ford", as the title character. He guest-starred in the TV series Matlock, In the Heat of the Night, and Murder, She Wrote. In 1980, he appeared in the short-lived police series Stone with Dennis Weaver.
Hingle played Commissioner Gordon in the 1989 film Batman and its three sequels. He is one of only two actors to appear in the four Batman films from 1989 to 1997; the other is Michael Gough.
In November 2007, he created the Pat Hingle Guest Artist Endowment to enable students to work with visiting professional actors at the University of North Carolina Wilmington .

## Personal life

Hingle married Alyce Faye Dorsey on June 3, 1947. They had three children. The couple later divorced. In 1979 Hingle married Julia Wright. He and his second wife had two children.

## Death

Hingle died from myelodysplastic cancer (which he had been diagnosed with in November 2008) at the age of 84 at his house in Carolina Beach in North Carolina on 3 January 2009. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean.

## Selected TV credits and filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1954 | On the Waterfront | Jocko | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Warren Selvy | Season 3 Episode 13: "Night of the Execution" |
| 1957 | The Strange One | Harold Koble | |
| 1957 | No Down Payment | Herman Kreitzer | |
| 1960 | Wild River | Narrator | Voice, Uncredited |
| 1961 | Splendor in the Grass | Ace Stamper | |
| 1962 | The Untouchables | Mitchell A. Grandin | TV series Season 3 episode "The Case Against Eliot Ness" |
| 1963 | The Untouchables | Barney Howe / Barney Retsick | TV series Season 4 episode "Junk Man" |
| 1963 | The Twilight Zone | Horace Ford | TV series Episode "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" |
| 1963 | The Ugly American | Homer Atkins | |
| 1963 | All the Way Home | Ralph Follet | |
| 1964 | Invitation to a Gunfighter | Sam Brewster | |
| 1964 | Carol for Another Christmas | Ghost of Christmas Present | |
| 1965 | Daniel Boone | Will Carey | TV series Episode "The Returning" |
| 1965 | The Fugitive | Sheriff Joe Bob Sims | TV series Episode "Nicest Fella You'd Ever Want to Meet" |
| 1966 | Nevada Smith | 'Big Foot' | |
| 1966 | The Andy Griffith Show | Fred Gibson | TV series Season 6 episode "Wyatt Earp Rides Again" |
| 1967 | Mission: Impossible | R.J. McMillan | TV series Season 1 episode "The Confession" |
| 1967 | The Invaders | Brother Avery | TV series Season 2 episode "The Prophet" |
| 1968 | Sol Madrid | Harry Mitchell | |
| 1968 | Jigsaw | Lew Haley | |
| 1968 | Hang 'Em High | Judge Adam Fenton | |
| 1970 | Bloody Mama | Sam Adams Pendlebury | |
| 1970 | WUSA | Bingamon | |
| 1970 | Norwood | Grady Fring | |
| 1971 | Gunsmoke | Dr. John Chapman | TV series 7 episodes after Milburn Stone ("Doc") had heart surgery |
| 1972 | The Carey Treatment | Captain Pearson | |
| 1973 | Kung Fu | General Thoms | TV series Season 1, episode 6 "The Soul is the Warrior" |
| 1973 | One Little Indian | Captain Stewart | |
| 1973 | Happy as the Grass Was Green | Eric Mills | |
| 1974 | The New Land | Cadbury | TV series Episode "The Word is: Mortal" (never aired) |
| 1974 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Senator Hill | TV series Episode "Pilot Error" |
| 1974 | The Super Cops | Inspector Novick | |
| 1974 | Nightmare Honeymoon | Mr. Binghamton | |
| 1975 | Hawaii Five-O | Ormsbee | TV series Episode "The Defector" |
| 1976 | Independence | John Adams | |
| 1977 | The Gauntlet | Detective Maynard Josephson | |
| 1977 | Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo | 'Doc' Hodgins | TV movie |
| 1979 | Elvis | Colonel Tom Parker | TV movie |
| 1979 | When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? | Lyle Stricker | |
| 1979 | Norma Rae | Vernon | |
| 1979 | Disaster on the Coastliner | John Marsh | TV movie |
| 1980 | Running Scared | Sergeant McClain | |
| 1980 | M*A*S*H | Colonel Daniel Webster Tucker | TV series Season 8 episode "April Fools" |
| 1980 | Stone | Chief Gene Paulton | TV series |
| 1983 | Going Berserk | Ed Reese | |
| 1983 | Running Brave | Coach Bill Easton | |
| 1983 | Sudden Impact | Chief Lester Jannings | |
| 1984 | Magnum, P.I. | Garwood Huddle | TV series Season 5 episode "The Legacy of Garwood Huddle" |
| 1984 | In 'n Out | Oscar Milstone | |
| 1984 | The Act | Frank Boda | |
| 1985 | The Falcon and the Snowman | Charles Boyce | |
| 1985 | Amazing Stories | The Sheriff | TV series Episode "Santa '85" |
| 1985 | The Lady from Yesterday | Jim Bartlett | TV movie |
| 1985 | Brewster's Millions | Edward Roundfield | |
| 1985 | The Rape of Richard Beck | 'Chappy' Beck | TV movie |
| 1986 | Maximum Overdrive | Bubba Hendershot | |
| 1986 | Murder, She Wrote | Retired Lieutenant Barney Kale | TV series Episode "Unfinished Business" |
| 1987 | Baby Boom | Hughes Larabee | |
| 1988 | The Land Before Time | Narrator / Rooter | Voice |
| 1988 | War and Remembrance | Admiral William "Bull" Halsey | TV miniseries |
| 1989 | Batman | Commissioner Jim Gordon | |
| 1990 | The Grifters | 'Bobo' Justus | |
| 1990 | The Kennedys of Massachusetts | PJ Kennedy | TV miniseries |
| 1990 | Murder, She Wrote | Lieutenant James Ignatius O'Malley | TV series Episode: "O'Malley's Luck" |
| 1991 | Murder, She Wrote | Captain Zach Franklin | TV series Episode: "Thicker Than Water" |
| 1992 | Gunsmoke: To the Last Man | Colonel Tucker | TV movie |
| 1992 | Batman Returns | Commissioner Jim Gordon | |
| 1992 | Citizen Cohn | J. Edgar Hoover | |
| 1993 | Cheers | Gus O'Malley | TV series Episode "The Last Picture Show" |
| 1993 | In the Heat of the Night | Daddy Roy Eversole | TV series Episode "A Step Removed" |
| 1994 | Lightning Jack | U.S. Marshal Dan Kurtz | |
| 1994 | In the Heat of the Night | Daddy Roy Eversole | TV series Episode "Poor Relations" |
| 1995 | The Quick and the Dead | Horace Pinnick | |
| 1995 | Batman Forever | Commissioner Jim Gordon | |
| 1996 | Wings | Jack Hackett | TV series 1 episode |
| 1996 | Larger than Life | Vernon | |
| 1996 | Bastard out of Carolina | Mr. Waddell | |
| 1997 | The Shining | Pete Watson | TV miniseries |
| 1997 | Batman & Robin | Commissioner Jim Gordon | |
| 1997 | A Thousand Acres | Harold Clark | |
| 1997 | Horror Story | Judge Caldwell | |
| 1999 | Muppets from Space | General Luft | |
| 2000 | Shaft | Judge Dennis Bradford | |
| 2000-2002 | Batman OnStar commercials | Commissioner Jim Gordon | Voice |
| 2001 | Road to Redemption | Grandpa Nathan Tucker | |
| 2001 | Morning | Major Sonny | |
| 2002 | The Angel Doll | Noah Roudabush | |
| 2005 | The Greatest Adventure of My Life | General J.T. Boone | |
| 2006 | Two Tickets to Paradise | Mark's Dad | |
| 2006 | Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby | Mr. Dennit Sr. | |
| 2006 | Waltzing Anna | 'Mo' Kegley | |
| 2007 | The List | Gus Eicholtz | |
| 2008 | Undoing Time | Judge | Final film role |
| 2019 | Shaft | Judge Dennis Bradford | Posthumous / Archive footage cameo |