Pat Hingle

4/5

Biography

Pat Hingle ; his recovery took more than a year. In more recent years, Hingle has played Commissioner Gordon in the "Batman" movies. Just prior to his death, he resided in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, with his wife, Julia.

  • Primary profession
  • Actor·producer·soundtrack
  • Country
  • United States
  • Nationality
  • American
  • Gender
  • Male
  • Birth date
  • 19 July 1924
  • Place of birth
  • Denver
  • Death date
  • 2009-01-03
  • Death age
  • 85
  • Place of death
  • Carolina Beach· North Carolina
  • Cause of death
  • Natural causes
  • Education
  • Actors Studio·University of Texas at Austin

Movies

TV

Books

Trivia

Was nominated for Broadways 1958 Tony Award as best supporting or featured actor (dramatic) for "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.".

In his last appearance as Commissioner Gordon in the Batman series, he worked with Uma Thurman , whose first husband, Gary Oldman , succeeded him in the role in Batman Begins .

Went to the University of Texas in 1942 on a tuba scholarship.

Studying acting with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof Studios, he later was a strong disciple of the Actors Studio in New York. It was Elia Kazan , who gave Hingle his big screen break by casting him in the unbilled role of a bartender in On the Waterfront . Later he played Warren Beatty s browbeating father in Kazans Splendor in the Grass . Kazan also cast him as the original Gooper on Broadway in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

Diagnosed in November 2006 with a blood disorder, myelodysplasia. He died over two years later.

Had three children, Bill, Jody and Molly, by first wife Alyce.

He lost the lead role in the film Elmer Gantry , which could have been a turning point in his screen career, when he, trying to escape a stalled elevator in his apartment building on the West Side, fell more than 50 feet down the shaft. He fractured his skull, hip, wrist, and most of the ribs on his left side, also breaking his left leg in three places. A finger had to be amputated. Near death for two weeks, he spent a year relearning to walk. Burt Lancaster inherited the role and won an Oscar.

Serving on the destroyer USS Marshall during World War II, he later returned to the military during the Korean War as a boilerman technician in the Navy.

The only son of three children whose father, a contractor, died when he was an infant.

Worked various jobs during his salad days - shoe salesman, playground attendant, Bible salesman, farmhand, usher, waiter and a file clerk at Bloomingdales.

He studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.

(August 1997) Appears in a Broadway production of 1776 as Ben Franklin.

(January 2001) Living in Kure Beach, North Carolina with his wife, Julia.

Along with Michael Gough , he is one of only two actors to appear in Batman , Batman Returns , Batman Forever and Batman & Robin .

He was awarded the 1983 Drama Logue Award for Outstanding Performance for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Quotes

I can be a truck driver, a doctor, a lawyer, a hanging judge, whatever.

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