Following a long battle with prostate cancer, actor Bob Hastings has passed away and left in his stead a long line of acting credentials going back to the very birth of Batman in mainstream media.
Appearing in a guest role in 1966’s Batman TV Show starring Adam West and Burt Ward, Hastings would go onto voice Commissioner Jim Gordon in both 1968’s animated The Batman/Superman Hour and the fan-favorite and Emmy award winning Batman: The Animated Series (and related DC cartoons). The latter would be the primary inspiration behind Batman: The Animated Series writer Paul Dini’s work on Batman: Arkham Asylum, in which Tom Kane would voice the role of Jim Gordon, and its sequel, Batman: Arkham City, that same role filled by David Kaye.
Hastings did voice Gotham’s iconic police commissioner in 2001’s Batman: Vengeance and reprise his role for 2003’s Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu.
For the older crowd, Hastings is remembered for his career in radio dramas and subsequent television roles from the 1940s onward. He played the role of Lt. Carpenter on McHale’s Navy in the early 1960s and and gave his voice to The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1973), and The Amazing Spider-Man (1977).
His voice work may also be recalled for Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy as Mayor Manac. His final role would be as a judge in 2010’s Mafia II. He was 89.
Source: LA Times