Pat Hingle, RIP

January 5th, 2009 at 01:34pm Will Pfeifer

Longtime character actor Pat Hingle, best known for playing Commissioner Gordon in the BATMAN movies, has died at the age of 84 after a battle with leukemia.

Hingle’s resume stretches back to the 1950s, and he was actually set to star in the 1960 movie ELMER GANTRY but fell 54-feet down an elevator shaft in his New York apartment building and spent more than a year recovery from the life-threatening injuries. He never became a major movie star (Burt Lancaster replaced him in GANTRY), but he worked steadily in supporting roles in TV shows and movies for decades.

I’ll always remember him as Bobo Justus in the 1990 movie THE GRIFTERS. He has an amazing scene with Anjelica Houston, who works for him. Her job is making bets at a local racetrack and “evening out” the odds so the mob doesn’t take a bit hit if a long shot wins. She missed a race, and now has to answer to Bobo.

What makes the scene so powerful is how matter-of-factly Hingle acts as he wraps several oranges in a towel and proceeds to beat Huston with it, explaining it’s an old insurance scam. If you do it right, he says, it leaves horrible bruises but doesn’t hurt.

If you do it wrong, however…

Entry Filed under: Deaths