Kevin Conroy

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**Kevin Conroy** was an American actor and voice actor. He is best known for his voice role as the DC Comics character Batman on the 1990s Warner Bros. television show *Batman: The Animated Series*, as well as various other TV series and feature films in the DC animated universe. Due to the popularity of his performance as Batman, Conroy went on to voice the character for multiple films under the DC Universe Animated Original Movies banner and the critically acclaimed *Batman: Arkham* video games.

## Personal life

Born in Westbury, New York to an Irish Catholic family, Conroy moved to Westport, Connecticut when he was about 11 years old. He moved to New York City in 1973 when he earned a full scholarship to attend Juilliard's drama division, studying under actor John Houseman. While there, he roomed with Robin Williams, who was in the same group as both Conroy and Kelsey Grammer. After graduating from Juilliard in 1978, he toured with Houseman's acting group The Acting Company, and the following year he went on the national tour of Ira Levin's *Deathtrap*. Filmreference.com lists Conroy as having been married, and having a child, though an interview with *The New York Times* in 2016 stated that he is single. He also said that he is gay.

## Career

In 1980, Conroy decided to try his hand in television and moved out to California. He landed a role in the daytime soap opera *Another World*. Conroy became associated with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, where he performed in productions of *Hamlet* and *A Midsummer Night's Dream*. From 1980 to 1985, he acted in a variety of contemporary and classic theatre pieces, including the Broadway productions of *Eastern Standard* and Edward Albee's adaptation of *Lolita*. In 1984, Conroy played the title role in *Hamlet* at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He returned to television in the 1985 TV movie *Covenant* and had a role on another daytime soap drama, *Search for Tomorrow*. Conroy played gay lawyer Bart Fallmont on *Dynasty* from 1985 to 1986. He was a series regular on *Ohara* in 1987, and as the company commander on *Tour of Duty* from 1987 to 1988, before starring in a series of television movies. Though initially cast as one of the show's main characters, his role on the show was reduced while it filmed in Hawaii and he ended up spending much of his time doing portraits of tourists on the Honolulu boardwalk. Conroy has also guest-starred on shows such as *Cheers*, *Search for Tomorrow*, *Matlock* and *Murphy Brown*.

### As Batman

As a voice actor, Kevin Conroy is best known for his starring role as Bruce Wayne / Batman in the acclaimed *Batman: The Animated Series* (1992–95). He continued to voice Batman in numerous animated projects from which the series was spun off into, which collectively took place in what is known as the DC animated universe (DCAU). These spin-offs include the TV shows *The New Batman Adventures* (1997–99), *Batman Beyond* (1999–2001, in which he portrays an elderly Bruce Wayne retired from crimefighting), *Justice League* (2001–04) and *Justice League Unlimited* (2004–06) as well as the theatrical film *Batman: Mask of the Phantasm* (1993), and the direct-to-video films *Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero* (1998), *Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker* (2000) and *Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman* (2003). He also voiced Batman for the character's guest appearances in the DCAU's *Superman: The Animated Series*, *Static Shock*, and *The Zeta Project*.

Conroy is distinguished for being the first voice actor to use two distinct voices to portray Bruce Wayne and Batman, which Michael Keaton had previously done in Tim Burton's live-action *Batman* films. In a tally of performances that include every episode and movie portrayal of Batman in live-action and animation, Conroy has portrayed the character longer than any other actor. The previous record-holder was Olan Soule, who voiced Batman in various animated works between the late 1960s and early 1980s; including *Super Friends*. Apart from the DCAU, Conroy has also portrayed Batman in the direct-to-video DC Universe Animated Original Movies: *Batman: Gotham Knight* (2008), *Superman/Batman: Public Enemies* (2009), *Superman/Batman: Apocalypse* (2010), *Justice League: Doom* (2012), *Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox* (2013), *Batman: Assault on Arkham* (2014), *Batman: The Killing Joke* (2016) and *Justice League vs. the Fatal Five* (2019).

After the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, Conroy participated in relief efforts by volunteering to cook for police officers and firefighters. During an audio commentary on *Batman: Gotham Knight*, Conroy expressed his surprise at the reaction of the emergency service workers to his presence. At the behest of another cook, Conroy called out from the kitchen to the dining area in his "Batman voice", reciting the iconic line, "I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!" (from the *Batman: The Animated Series* episode "Nothing to Fear") This was greeted by cheers and applause from emergency service personnel, many of whom had been fans of *Batman: The Animated Series* during its airing in the 1990s. Conroy confessed to being humbled and deeply flattered by the reaction.

In preparation for the theatrical release of the 2012 live-action film *The Dark Knight Rises*, Conroy re-dubbed Christian Bale's Batman lines for an animated version of one of the film's trailers.

Conroy stated at the 2013 Dallas Comic Con that he had been working on "the next Arkham", leading to rampant speculation that he would reprise his role as Batman in *Batman: Arkham Origins*. In June 2013, however, it was confirmed that Conroy would not be involved in *Arkham Origins*, meaning Conroy may have been referring to an yet-unannounced game from the Rocksteady *Arkham* series. In March 4, 2014, a new *Arkham* game titled *Batman: Arkham Knight* was announced with Conroy reprising his role.

Conroy at the 2019 WonderCon to promote *Justice League vs. the Fatal Five*

He confirmed on Twitter in October 2013 that he had filmed a role on Tim Daly's web series *The Daly Show*, where Conroy parodied his role as Batman in a fight with Daly parodying Superman (whom Daly previously voiced in *Superman: The Animated Series*).

In August 2019, it was announced that Conroy would portray Bruce Wayne in live-action form in the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths".

## Death

Conroy died of colon cancer on November 10, 2022.