Batman's Commissioner Gordon Dies

Actor Pat Hingle—whose characters included Commissioner Gordon in the '90s Batman movies and Norma Rae's father in the 1979 film—has died of blood cancer at his Carolina Beach home at the age of 84, the Wilmington Star-News reports. The Tony Award nominee and Broadway star had said he was happy to spend his last days in North Carolina, where he launched an endowment to mentor student actors.

Hingle is remembered by his fans as the ultimate storyteller and an affectionate man. His career was dotted with on-screen roles from Hang 'em High with Clint Eastwood in 1968 to the recent Talladega Nights. In 1959, a near fatal 54-foot fall kept him from a big movie break, an accident the lifelong stage actor later called a blessing.
(More Pat Hingle stories.)