Monday, November 20, 2017

Justice League actor evolution Part 10: James Gordon


He is one of the few righteous police officers in Gotham City, typically portrayed as having full trust in Batman and is even somewhat dependent on him. In many modern stories, he is somewhat skeptical of Batman's vigilante methods, but nevertheless believes that Gotham needs him. He is none other than Commissioner James Gordon.


1) the first live actor to portray Gordon was Ed Wood regular Lyle Talbot (1902 - 1996) in the 15-part "Batman and Robin" movie serial (1949).


2) Neil Hamilton (1899 - 1988) portrayed Gordon in the 1960s Batman TV series and movie, he was the one who introduced the Bat Signal 🦇 a red emergency hotline telephone ☎ (known as the Bat-Phone) that connects directly to the Batcave, the Batmobile, and even Bruce Wayne's study. Lol that was way before smartphones 📱 were even invented!


3) Pat Hingle (1923 - 2009) was one of only 2 actors to appear in all 4 films of the Burton/Schumacher series, the other one being Michael Gough who played Alfred Pennyworth. Hingle was the oldest Commish Gordon actor at 66 yrs of age. Oddly enough, Gordon's daughter Barbara from the comics ended up as the niece of Alfred in the 1997 bomb "Batman and Robin".


4) Gary Oldman (b.1958) portrayed Gordon in the #darkknighttrilogy . In the first film "Batman Begins" he started off as a beat cop, then promoted to Sergeant, and finally to Lieutenant. In "The Dark Knight" he saved the Mayor from being assassination by an unknown assailant (we know who), and after capturing the Joker he was promoted to Police Commissioner, though at the cost of witnessing the downfall of D.A. Harvey "Two Face" Dent & the demise of Dent's girlfriend Rachel Dawes, and even destroying the Bat-Signal. By "The Sark Knight Rises", Gordon assisted Batman in blocking the signal for the nuclear primer, and when Batman cryptically revealed his identity before flying off, Gordon realized that Bruce Wayne was Batman all along. After attending Bruce's "funeral" Gordon saw that the Bat-Signal was repaired and that Bruce was still alive.


5) JK Simmons (b.1955) who is best known for his role of Daily Bugle boss J.Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man film trilogy (2002 - 2007) debuted as Gordon in the Justice League film.


6) Ben McKenzie (b. 1978) became the youngest Gordon actor in the "Gotham: TV series.

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