Pat Hingle

Famous actor on Broadway and in the movies. Pat Hingle Poster Pat Hingle Born July 19, 1924 in Miami, Florida, USA Died January 3, 2009 in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, USA (complications from myelodysplasia) Birth Name Martin Patterson Hingle Height 5' 10" (1.78 m) Mini Bio (1) Pat Hingle (real name: Martin Patterson Hingle) was born in Miami, Florida, the son of a building contractor. His parents divorced when Hingle was still in his infancy (he never knew his father) and his mother supported the family by teaching school in Denver. She then began to travel (with her son in tow) in search of more lucrative work; by age 13 Hingle had lived in a dozen cities. The future Tony Award nominee made his "acting debut" in the third grade, playing a carrot in a school play ("At that time it didn't seem like much of a way to make a living!", he recalled). Hingle attended high school in Texas and in 1941 entered the University of Texas, majoring in advertising. After serving in the Navy during WW II, he went back to the university and got involved with the drama department as a way to meet girls. With his wife Alyce (whom he first met at the university), Hingle moved to New York and began to get jobs on the stage and on TV. The apex of his stage career was "J.B." by poet Archibald Macleish, with Hingle in the title role as a 20th-century Job. It was during the run of "J.B." that Hingle took an accidental plunge down the elevator shaft of his New York apartment building, sustaining near-fatal injuries in the 54-foot fall. He was near death for two weeks (and lost the little finger of his left hand); 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. Spouse (2) Julia Anna Wright (25 October 1979 - 3 January 2009) ( his death) Alyce Faye Dorsey (3 June 1947 - 1979) ( divorced) ( 3 children) Trade Mark (4) Deep gruff voice His mustache Role as Police Commissioner Gordon in the Burton/Schumacher Batman film series Frequently co-starred in films with Clint Eastwood Trivia (13) Was nominated for Broadway's 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 (2005). Went to the University of Texas in 1942 on a tuba scholarship. Studying acting with Uta Hagen with the Herbert Berghof Acting Studio in NYC, 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 (1954). Later he played Warren Beatty's browbeating father in Kazan's Splendor in the Grass (1961). Kazan also cast him as the original Gooper on Broadway in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". Diagnosed in November 2006 with myelodysplasia, a blood disease. He died in early 2009. Had three children, Bill, Jody and Molly, by first wife Alyce. He lost the lead role in the film Elmer Gantry (1960), 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 as a file clerk at Bloomingdale's. Appearing on Broadway in a revival of the musical "1776" as Benjamin Franklin. [August 1997] Along with Michael Gough, he is one of only two actors to appear in Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). 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. Personal Quotes (5) After one [college] semester I went into the Navy for four years in the Pacific on a destroyer. I went back to school and every time I saw a pretty girl I'd say, "Who the hell is that?" Well, they were all headed towards the theater department so I joined the campus Curtain Club. In three years I did 35 plays and in one of those plays I finally realized that I felt more comfortable than I did anywhere and I was where God intended me to be. I always feel that way. I know that if I had done Elmer Gantry (1960), I would have been more of a movie name. But I'm sure I would not have done as many plays as I've done. I've had exactly the kind of career I hoped for. The stage is an actors' medium. When the curtain goes up, there are those crazy actors. The story comes through them. The director can pull his hair in the back of the house and the producer and the playwright can cry on each other's shoulders. But there go those galloping actors. 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. I can be a truck driver, a doctor, a lawyer, a hanging judge, whatever. And looking like I do has allowed me to make a good living in all kinds of media. It's a blessing and I'm aware of it.