Born Martin Patterson Hingle on July 19, 1924, the actor known to audiences as Pat Hingle died of myelodysplasia, a form of blood cancer on Saturday,Jan. 3 at his home in Carolina Beach, N.C. Perhaps best known for his role as Commissioner Gordon in the first four Batman films, Hingle actually had a 55-year careerspanning theater, film, and television.
Though he once said he started acting simply because all the pretty girls seemed to gravitate toward the stage, theater soon became his true love, and Hingle was eventually accepted into the prestigious Actors Studio in New York. If any one person helped him get his break it was Elia Kazan, the hard-hitting director of A Streetcar Named Desire, who cast Hingle as an uncredited bartender in On the Waterfront and, more importantly, as the conniving Goober in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Later, Hingle would play Warren Beatty’s soul-killing father in Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass.
His stern, yet slightly forlorn face lent itself well to conservative authority figures, whether as the crime lord menacing Anjelica Huston in The Grifters, as Sally Field’s father in Norma Rae, and most notably as Commissioner James Gordon in the four Batman films of the movie franchise Tim Burton first started in 1989.
Hingle never quite became a star, but that didn’t diminish his love of of acting. A few years ago Hingle told the Washington Post, "There were the Gary Coopers and the Clark Gables, but they didn’t really appeal to me. But I saw Walter Huston and Hume Cronyn in about 10 movies and I saw that it was possible to play a wide variety of roles where there [were] no connections between one or the other; they weren’t put into a slot….I saw what was possible."
Hingle is survived by Julia, his wife of 29 years, his five children, 11 grandchildren, and two sisters.
Comments (1-10) of 10 Add your comment
I recall back in 1997 when Hingle played Ben Franklin in the broadway revival of 1776. Now, he was not as good as Howard Di Sllva, but he was still remarkable. He will be missed.
I also recall after the performance, that Mr. Hingle fingerbanged me relentlessly– not as good as Howard Di Silver, but he was still remarkable.
Will the real Stephanie T please stand up? Although you kind of deserve the slam for your backhanded compliment of the wonderful Pat Hingle. RIP
I did not write that and whoever did. I can track you a-ss down!
Cru, that was not me. Honestly. Someone with 1 and 1/2 inches has been playing games.
lol
I remember him well as Timothy Hutton’s father in THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN (1983).
mr.hingle was a very sweet man. I used to wait on him is a business in wilmington nc and he always asked for me. very special. i,ll be thinking of his family.
Anyone person who jokes about the passing of person is a sick minded dip$hit. I thought he did a wonderful performance as Commissioner Gordon in the Original 1989 Batman film, he set a good example for Gary Oldman. That really is the only place I ever saw him was in Batman and Batman Returns- The two best out of those four. May he RIP and be forever remembered.
Hingle was an overated-stereotyped ogre of a fathead. Noone will care a hoot about whether he was in Batman or Fatman. He drank like a fish and fondled little girls in beteen his Geritol breaks on film sets.