Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: Batman, entertainment, HRL, joker, mark hamill, television, tim curry

Tim Curry Was The Original Joker On Batman: The Animated Series

There are some internet rumors that just seem to be too out-there to be real. Like the one that Tim Curry, the original Pennywise, was originally cast to voice the Joker, but was too scary. As the story goes, Curry was taped to play the Clown Prince of Crime opposite of Kevin Conroy's Dark Knight in Batman: The Animated Series. But after recording some episodes, they felt he was too scary and switched to Mark Hamill.

The problem with that rumor is that Batman: the Animated Series was incredibly dark at times. This was on purpose. Not using Curry because he was too scary makes no sense. And as it turns out, it's not true. But the part where he was cast to play the Joker? That's true. Curry did indeed record some lines as the Joker. But why did they make the switch?

Martin Lis with screengeek.net asked Curry about the rumor during a panel at Canada's Fan Expo:

"I did play Joker for a while, but I had bronchitis and they fired me – and hired Mark Hamill. That's life."

Why they would fire the guy for being sick, I have no idea. And it's hard to argue with the amazing job Mark Hamill did with the character, arguably the best Joker of all time. But how can you not wonder what might have been with Curry voicing the character?

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