Batman: The Animated Series gave the world one of the finest voice actors for the role of Batman from 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 death of the actor, the story of how he got the role of Batman reemerged as the people mourned their beloved voice actor.
When Kevin Conrey Got The Role Without Any Experience
During an interview originally published in 2017, Vulture describes the overwhelming task of creating Batman: The Animated Series from ground zero. The series originally aired on Fox Kids but the heavily filled emotions were enough to make the adults turn their heads.
During the run of the interview, Kevin Conroy revealed an interesting tale of how he got the role of the Caped Crusader. With no previous experience of doing something like this, it was stated that Conroy nailed the role in his first take itself. Bruce Timm, who served as the character designer, co-creator, and director of the show recalled Kevin Conroy’s interview.
“Out of the blue, this guy whom 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 good-looking. And we kind of told him what we were looking for: “Kind of like Michael Keaton, but kind of not. 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 voice director of the series immediately looked at each other when Kevin Conroy started speaking. As if in a eureka moment, the duo decided to hire Kevin Conery for the role of Batman.
Kevin Conroy Had No Knowledge of The Dark Knight
During the same interview, the people came to know that Kevin Conroy had no knowledge of the caped vigilante of Gotham. Talking to the interviewer, Conroy stated his lack of knowledge of Batman was not enough to get him out of the race for the role.
“I had no 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’re doing! Forget that!” He had to explain to me the Dark Knight legacy and how dark this character was: “He’s avenging his parents’ deaths and he’s got these dual identities.”
Kevin Conroy continued, “You’re describing an archetypal hero, almost like a Hamlet character.” I was putting it in terms of stage roles that I was familiar with. I let my imagination go and I just went to [Batman voice] the darkest, most painful place in my voice [returns to normal voice] and it just came out. I saw them get 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 go into the dark side of his persona. Following the release of Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Kevin Conroy went on a career span of voicing Batman for almost 3 decades. He was also notably known for his voice as Batman in the Arkham games such as Arkham Knight. The actor passed away recently on 10th November 2022.
Batman: The Animated Series (1992) is available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: Twitter
