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13[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kevin_conroy_batman.png]]
14[[caption-width-right:350:''[[WesternAnimation/BatmantheAnimatedSeries He was vengeance. He was the night. He will always be… BATMAN.]]'']]
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16->''"My heart pulsed. I felt my face flush, my breath grew deeper, I began to speak, and a voice I didn't recognize came out. It was a throaty, husky, rumbling sound that shook my body. It seemed to roar from thirty years of frustration, confusion, denial, love, yearning... yearning for what? An anchor. A harbor. A sense of safety, a sense of identity. Yes, I can relate. Yes, this is terrain I know well. I felt '''Batman''' rising from deep within."''
17-->-- Conroy on finding his Franchise/{{Batman}} voice, ''DC Pride 2022''
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19Kevin Conroy (November 30, 1955 – November 10, 2022) was an American actor. Becoming a professional actor in the 1970s, Conroy performed in numerous productions over the years, particularly in theatre.
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21Then it came to pass that he became the [[{{Memes/Batman}} goddamn]] Franchise/{{Batman}}.
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23Beginning with ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Conroy lent his voice to the iconic character and never looked back. His performances as Batman were often lauded, especially the manner in which he was able to vocally portray Batman and Bruce Wayne as two different people. In later years, he would say that the role of Batman resonated with him deeply as a gay man who had lived in the closet for most of his life, relating Bruce Wayne's struggle to maintain a facade of normalcy with his own struggles being gay in a time when it was not socially acceptable. He would continue to play the role of the Dark Knight every time he appeared in the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'', a continuity which includes the aforementioned ''Batman: The Animated Series'', ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'', ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'', as well as numerous Batman-related games. Conroy reprised the role in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamKnight'', ''WesternAnimation/SupermanBatmanPublicEnemies'', ''WesternAnimation/SupermanBatmanApocalypse'', the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries''[[labelnote:*]]with the exceptions of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' and ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOriginsBlackgate'', which have Creator/RogerCraigSmith taking over the role in order to portray a younger, less experienced Batman, but including ''VideoGame/SuicideSquadKillTheJusticeLeague'', which will be released after his death[[/labelnote]], ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDoom'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox''[[labelnote:*]]Although for the majority of the movie, we see a [[AlternateUniverse different]] [[LegacyCharacter Batman]] who's voiced by Creator/KevinMcKidd instead[[/labelnote]], ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAssaultOnArkham'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'', ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo''[[labelnote:*]]episode "Real Orangins"[[/labelnote]], ''VideoGame/LegoDCSuperVillains'', ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndGuessWho'', ''VideoGame/{{Multiversus}}'', ''VideoGame/SuicideSquadKillTheJusticeLeague'', and Part Three of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. He wrote an autobiographical comic about taking on the role called "Finding Batman" published in ''ComicBook/DCPride2022'', posthumously winning an Eisner Award for Best Short Story for it.
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25It was announced in 2019 that after 27 years, he would play Bruce Wayne in live action, specifically in the Series/{{Arrowverse}}'s CrisisCrossover, ''Series/{{Crisis on Infinite Earths|2019}}'', as a retired, parallel Earth version of Bruce drawing inspiration from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' and ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''.
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27To date, he has portrayed Batman more than any other actor, voice or live-action, to have assumed the role. This is mirrored by Creator/MarkHamill as ComicBook/TheJoker, also in many of the above works.
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29Some of his other roles included Captain Sunshine on ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros''[[note]]Which was itself a parodic mashup of Batman, Franchise/{{Superman}}, and Music/MichaelJackson[[/note]], John Grayson on ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', Bellicus on ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', and various characters from both ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' and ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter''. His live-action roles include guest shots on [[Recap/CheersS8E7 two]] different [[Recap/CheersS8E23 episodes]] of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', Captain Lloyd Hamilton on ''Series/{{Ohara}}'', and a recurring role as Captain Rusty Wallace on the first season of ''Series/TourOfDuty''.
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31He was not related to Creator/FrancesConroy. However, both of them were members of Juilliard's Drama Division Group 6 (1973–1977) and both have a history with Creator/DCComics adaptations (Batman especially, with Frances playing in ''Film/{{Catwoman|2004}}'', ''WesternAnimation/AllStarSuperman'', and ''Film/{{Joker|2019}}'').
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33Conroy passed away from intestinal cancer on November 10, 2022, less than three weeks before his 67th birthday. He is survived by his husband Vaughn C. Williams as well as two siblings.
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35!! "I am vengeance, I am the tropes, I AM BATMAN!"
36* AdamWesting: He was willing to lampoon his role as Batman on occasion. Such as in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYCVnWStLrg video by Tim Daly]] that takes lines from ''[[ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns The Dark Knight Returns]]''[[note]]making it technically the first time Conroy depicted his character in live action[[/note]] and the two actors take their characters' voices over-the-top for comedic effect.
37* AdvertisedExtra: Although he was listed as a main character on ''Series/TourOfDuty'', his role as Rusty Wallace was quite minimal. Stuck in Hawaii with nothing to do for most of the working week, he eventually got so bored that he set up a beach stand and sold sketch portraits to tourists to keep himself occupied.
38* CastingGag: Even when he's not playing Batman, his character will have some connection or reference to the Caped Crusader. You'd think ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger wouldn't really be a Batman reference in of itself, but Conroy was directly paired up with his Joker Creator/MarkHamill who plays ComicBook/TheSpectre, making it an allusion anyways.
39* IAmNotSpock: Completely and totally averted. He made no secret that he ''loved'' playing Batman and would take every opportunity to voice him that he possibly could.
40-->[[WebOriginal/TwistedToonz I'm Batman, dammit!]]
41* IronyAsHeIsCast: Considered ''the'' voice of notorious "playboy billionaire" ChickMagnet Bruce Wayne/Batman... and later came out as gay. For an extra layer, there's also the historical factoid of Batman having been accused of promoting a homosexual lifestyle.
42* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: He's the spitting image of Creator/JohnGlover, and played his relative on stage. Amusingly, the two even went up against each other in ''Batman: TAS'' a few times, since Glover played ComicBook/TheRiddler.
43* SeriousBusiness: He wasn't necessarily above saying some (in-character) funny things as Batman or simply in the Batman voice for a laugh, but like Creator/PeterCullen with Optimus Prime, Conroy took the role seriously enough to politely decline reprising the role in direct parodies to keep his tenure as dignified as possible. Hence why in things like ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' you have Creator/SethGreen voicing Batman despite managing to get Creator/MarkHamill to reprise the Joker.
44* ThoseTwoActors: With his Joker, Creator/MarkHamill. Hamill had such implicit trust in Conroy's artistic integrity that he'd sign on to play the Joker without seeing a script as long as Conroy was lined up to play Batman.
45** Hamill's respect for Conroy's work was also shown after the latter's passing, with Hamill stating that he'd never voice Joker again, not without his Batman.
46-->'''Joker:''' [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE51TheManWhoKilledBatman Without Batman, crime]] ''[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE51TheManWhoKilledBatman has]]'' [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE51TheManWhoKilledBatman no punchline]].
47* VocalEvolution: For the first season of ''Batman: TAS'', he used a raspy voice while playing Batman and pitched his voice up while playing Bruce Wayne. He subsequently switched to using a lower, gruff tone for Batman and his regular speaking voice for Bruce Wayne[[note]]He was new to voice acting and didn't realize how straining the raspy voice would be on his vocal cords. The gruff tone was adopted so he wouldn't permanently damage his voice while still staying true to the character[[/note]].
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