Goodbye to Robert Hastings

Dead at 89.

For a certain generation of TV viewers, Bob Hastings will always be Lt. Elroy Carpenter from McHale’s Navy. For another generation, he’ll forever be the voice of Police Commissioner Gordon. We may not have known his name or even thought about who was providing Gordon’s voice on Batman: The Animated Series, but for our entire lives, his voice will be the voice we hear in our heads when we read a comic with Gordon in it.



Hastings died Monday after a long battle with prostate cancer, according to the Burbank Leader. He was 89. ...

Commissioner Gordon wasn’t the first DC Comics character Hastings voiced. In the 1960s, he provided the voice for Superboy and Clark Kent in various animated projects, including The New Adventures of Superman and The Batman/Superman Hour. Hastings made one guest appearance on the 1966 Batman TV series as the character Major Beasley, and did voiceover work on the 1970s Spider-Man and Super Friends cartoons. ...