Kevin Conroy, best known for voicing Batman in animations, has passed away at the age of 66.
The prolific voice actor who voiced the Dark Knight in 60 different productions, died after a battle with cancer, Warner Bros announced on Friday (November 11).
Conroy was the voice of the iconic superhero over three decades, including 15 films such as Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm, and 15 cartoon series, including Batman: The Animated Series.
The actor's career spanned nearly 400 episodes and more than 100 hours of television, as well as two dozen video games, including the Batman: Arkham and Injustice franchises.
Conroy was born in 1955 in Westbury, New York, and did an acting major at The Julliard School alongside Christopher Reeve and his roommate Robin Williams.
He also featured as a live-action Bruce Wayne during the DC Comics shows such as Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, and Batwoman.
In the eight-decade history of the superhero, no one played the Dark Knight more. Mark Hamill, who acted opposite Conroy as the Joker, commemorated the actor in his tribute statement.
"Kevin was perfection. He was one of my favorite people on the planet and I loved him like a brother… Every time I saw him or spoke with him my spirits were elevated," he said, per Variety.
The 71-year-old actor, also best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film series, said: "For several generations, he has been the definitive Batman."
"It was one of those perfect scenarios where they got the exact right guy for the exact right part, and the world was better for it. His rhythms and subtleties, tones and delivery - that all also helped inform my performance," Hamil continued.
"He was the ideal partner - it was such a complementary, creative experience. I couldn't have done it without him. He will always be my Batman," he added.
According to NBC News, Warner Bros Animation released a statement and said Conroy's performance "will forever stand among the greatest portrayals of the Dark Knight in any medium".
In Finding Batman, which was released earlier this year, Conroy wrote a comic about his journey with the iconic character and as a gay man in Hollywood.
"I’ve often marveled as how appropriate it was that I should land this role," he wrote, per the Washington Post. "As a gay boy growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s in a devoutly Catholic family, I’d grown adept at concealing parts of myself."
The voice that appeared from the actor for Batman, he said, was one he didn’t recognize - a voice that "seemed to roar from 30 years of frustration, confusion, denial, love, yearning," adding, "I felt Batman rising from deep within."
Conroy is survived by his husband, Vaughn C. Williams, sister Trisha Conroy and brother Tom Conroy.
Our thoughts go out to Conroy's family, friends, and fans at this time.