Tim Curry Was The Original Voice for The Joker

Batman: The Animated Series first aired on September 5, 1992. Looking back at some of those episodes I appreciate the (not so) subtle dirty jokes, the clever writing and most importantly the characters and their voices. It’s hard to imagine someone better for the show than Kevin Conroy as Batman and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Mark Hamill lies in the heart of many a 90s kid for his iconic work as none other than Mista Jay. No one could fill the shoes of Hamill, except that those shoes weren’t even his to begin with!

At Fan Expo Canada this past weekend we learned from Curry himself that he was the first person cast for the role of The Joker.  There had been rumors flying around that he was fired because his voice was too scary for children but Curry gave the real reason why he was let go:

“I did play Joker for a while. But I had bronchitis and they fired me… and hired Mark Hamill. That’s life.”

Curry did alright for himself though. He would go on to be featured in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, had a guest starring role on Roseanne, did various voice overs and most recently was featured in the made for TV remake of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as The Criminologist. Tim Curry lives on in the hearts of many for his various roles. As for what he would have sounded like as The Joker, no audio has turned up on the interweb, but sonicz101 on Youtube cut some audio of Curry in IT and set it to a scene from Batman: The Animated Series, enjoy!