Voice actors always have an important role to play in animated media franchises. Their job is to express the emotions that their characters are feeling only with their voices and it requires an incredible amount of skill and perfection to be able to do it consistently.
Kevin Conroy was most popular for voicing the character of Batman in over a dozen movies, series, and video games but it was later revealed that he was not the first person to voice the character in Batman: The Animated Series.
Animator Henry Gilroy was the first person to portray the voice of Batman before Kevin Conroy
Kevin Conroy was one of the most popular voice actors in Hollywood and was most well-known as the voice of Batman to a whole generation of kids. Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Conroy voiced the character of Bruce Wayne aka Batman in multiple series, movies, and video games.
Conroy first voiced the character of the Caped Crusader back in 1992 in Batman: The Animated Series, the series that laid the foundation for the rest of the series and movies of DC Animated Universe. However, as it was later revealed, the animator of the show, Henry Gilroy was the first person to voice Batman in Batman: The Animated Series.
The creators of the series, Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski were allegedly tasked with creating a promo for Batman: The Animated Series. Timm and Radomski made the promo and voiced the thugs but they later realized that they had no one who would be voicing Batman’s grunts after the thugs punched the character.
Henry Gilroy, the animator of the show was editing the promo when he was asked by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski to voice the grunts of Batman for the promo. He once opened up about the same in an interview and said,
“They said, ‘They actually punched Batman. Henry, go in there and do the voice of Batman getting punched for the promo.’ No one knows this, but actually, I was the very first voice of Batman.” (via Slashfilm)
Although Henry Gilroy’s voice acting was probably no match for Kevin Conroy’s but he will forever be the person who first voiced Batman in BTAS.
Kevin Conroy opens up about portraying the character of Batman
Voicing a character with alter egos like Batman or The Flash could definitely be a tricky affair for some novice voice actors. However, Kevin Conroy was no novice, when the actor first took up the role of Bruce Wayne aka Batman in Batman: The Animated Series.
Kevin Conroy once opened up about voicing the role of the Caped Crusader over so many years. In the tribute documentary, Kevin Conroy: I Am the Knight, Conroy revealed that while voicing the character in series and movies, he used to think that Batman was the real character and Bruce Wayne was the alter ego. He said,
“I just went to a very dark and private place in my vocal range, because it seemed like such a dark, private world he lived in. And for Bruce, he has to play the society scene in New York — I mean, he’s the bachelor in town. It’s the other extreme, so it’s much brighter, a much more elevated sound. There’s a lot more modulation to the voice, a lot more color to the voice. It was fun!”
Kevin Conroy notably used to change his voice even while switching between the characters of Bruce Wayne and Batman making him stand out from the other voice actors of his generation. The only actor who has done that before him was Michael Keaton when the American actor portrayed the role of The Dark Knight in Tim Burton’s Batman(1989).
Conroy passed away a few years ago, back in 2022 due to intestinal cancer. DC Comics gave away free online access to Finding Batman after Conroy’s death to honor the legacy of the legendary actor.
All episodes of Batman: The Animated Series are currently streaming on HBO Max.
