Martin Patterson Hingle (July 19, 1924 January 3, 2009) was an American character actor who appeared in stage productions and in hundreds of television shows and feature films. He was near death for two weeks (and lost the little finger of his left hand); his recovery took more than a year. On film, he worked with stars ranging from Clint Eastwood to the Muppets. Caught in an elevator in his West End Avenue apartment building that was stalled . He entered the Navy and served as an enlisted man on a destroyer in the Pacific. And looking like I do has allowed me to make a good living in all kinds of media. I know how deflating it is. Returns to stage after '59 accident. B.,' Hurt In 30-Foot Fall From Elevator; Actor Is in Critical Condition After Plunge Down Shaft From Stalled Car, https://www.nytimes.com/1959/02/21/archives/pat-hingle-star-of-j-b-hurt-in-30foot-fall-from-elevator-actor-is.html. Over the years, he took on a dizzying mix of roles and seemed to do them all with ease and considerable skill. The difference is between someone like John Wayne or Gary Cooper, who played themselves and made the role fit, and the character roles.''. The apex of his However, in 1971, he was forced to temporarily leave the show for just a handful of episodes because he had to undergo heart surgery after suffering a heart attack. On the big screen, his films include Hang Em High, Sudden Impact and The Gauntlet with Eastwood, as well as Muppets From Space. He and Michael Gough, who played Alfred Pennyworth, were the only two actors to appear in the first four Batman films. Even your own mother couldn`t see your name,'' he recalled with a booming laugh. Another successful Kazan production on Broadway was William Inge's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957-59), with Hingle as a failed salesman. The waitress would come up and say, `Didn`t your dad used to run the gas station across the street? Pat Hingle (real name: Martin Patterson Hingle) was born in Miami, Florida, the son of a building contractor. Boyce is a former FBI man who has to cope with an alienated son (Tim Hutton) who eventually betrays the United States by selling CIA secrets. You were the most important thing when you worked opposite him. He was trapped in the elevator of his West End Avenue apartment building when it stalled between the second and third floors. In 1960, he had been offered the title role in Elmer Gantry, but Burt Lancaster filled the part because Hingle had been in a near-fatal accident. The couple later divorced. He loves his craft so much that he has never repeated his one excursion into directing--an Annenberg Center production of ''Toys in the Attic'' by Lillian Hellman that he undertook five years ago. The veteran of stage, television and film acting passed away at 10:45 p.m. Saturday at his Carolina Beach home,. pretty girl I'd say, "Who the hell is that?" ", he recalled). Only a chosen few had the body of work that he had, Morrison told The Times on Sunday. He sustained massive injuries, including a fractured skull, wrist, hip and leg, and several broken ribs. ''You`d go to a restaurant and they couldn`t place you. He attended the University of Texas, but dropped out during World War II to enlist in the Navy. ", he recalled). There were the Gary Coopers and the Clark Gables, but they didnt really appeal to me, he told the Washington Post some years ago. They had children Jody, Billy and Molly. stage career was "J.B." by poet. York and began to get jobs on the stage and on TV. Actor Pat Hingle died Saturday night after a battle with blood cancer. In 1959 while playing J.B. on Broadway, he was offered the title role for the 1960 film Elmer Gantry but lost it to Burt Lancaster because Hingle had a nearly fatal accident. He was caught in a lift in his apartment building that was stalled between the second and third floors. nominee made his "acting debut" in the third grade, playing a carrot in His electric performance led to United Artists offering Hingle the title role of the fast-talking conman in Elmer Gantry (1960). He and his second wife had two children. It was there that he met Elia Kazan, co-founder of the Studio and the director most identified with "the method". For the whole 20 years the series was on the air from 1955 until 1975, he appeared in an impressive 605 of 635 episodes, according to IMBD . Several weeks into the plays run, Hingle became caught in a stalled elevator in his apartment building. serving in the Navy during WW II, he went back to the university and He lay near death for two weeks, and his recovery required more than a year.[4][5]. &dquo;I know that if I had played Elmer Gantry, I would have been more of a movie name,&dquo; he once told the New York Times. It was during the run of "J.B." that Hingle took an accidental plunge down the elevator shaft of his New York apartment building, sustaining near-fatal injuries in the 54-foot fall. In the meantime, he was carrying on a parallel career with bigger and better roles in the theatre. Florida, the son of a building contractor. In 1963, Hingle guest-starred in an episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Incredible World of Horace Ford", as the title character. He returned to the University of Texas after the war and earned a degree in radio broadcasting in 1949. Martin Patterson "Pat" Hingle was an American actor. Their three children, Bill Hingle, Jody Smith and Molly Mantione survive him, as do his wife, Julia; two stepchildren, Katherine Joy and Gregory Swanson; two sisters, Jamie Petty and Joyce France; and 11 grandchildren. An admirable instance is his portrayal of Charles Boyce in ''The Falcon and the Snowman,'' based on Robert Lindsey`s 1979 nonfiction best-seller of the same name. 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When Hingle fell in 1959 (''It was 53 feet, not 30 feet like it says here,'' he noted with the rueful smile of a man who has a painful acquaintance with the difference), he seemed destined for the heights of his profession. In 1997, Mr. Hingle portrayed Benjamin Franklin in the Broadway revival of the musical 1776. Above, Mr. Hingle as Franklin with Brent Spiner, right, as John Adams. This California farm kingdom holds a key, These are the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles, New Bay Area maps show hidden flood risk from sea level rise and groundwater. Hingle graduated from Weslaco High School in Weslaco, Texas in 1942. In 1953, Hingle got his first break on Broadway in End As a Man, Calder Willingham's play depicting the dehumanisation of young men at a southern military school. He needed over a year to recover. Actor PAT HINGLE carved out a long career on stage and screen despite a missing left pinky. He is one of only two actors to appear in the four Batman films from 1989 to 1997; the other is Michael Gough. Hingle died Saturday night of myelodysplasia, a type of blood cancer, at his home in Carolina Beach, N.C., according to Lynn Heritage, a cousin who was acting as a spokesperson for the family. The reason he stands out is that he had the humility and ease that made acting look easy.. [3] He was caught in his West End Avenue apartment building in an elevator that had stalled between the second and third floors. He fractured his skull, wrist, hip, and most of the ribs on his left side. His TV credits include Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, Route 66, Gunsmoke, The Fugitive, Mission Impossible and Hallmark Hall of Fame. On television hes played J. Edgar Hoover, former House Speaker Sam Rayburn, Col. Tom Parker (Elvis Presleys manager) and, in the miniseries War and Remembrance, Adm. William F. Bull Halsey. It tells of the star of a Broadway hit who went home to his apartment after the show and fell down an elevator shaft. [11] He guest-starred in the TV series Matlock, In the Heat of the Night, and Murder, She Wrote. [6], On Broadway, Hingle originated the role of Gooper in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955). It was during the run of "J.B." that Hingle took an accidental plunge down the elevator shaft of his New York apartment building, sustaining near-fatal injuries in the 54-foot fall. His TV credits include Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, Route 66, Gunsmoke, The Fugitive, Mission Impossible and Hallmark Hall of Fame. On television hes played J. Edgar Hoover, former House Speaker Sam Rayburn, Col. Tom Parker (Elvis Presleys manager) and, in the miniseries War and Remembrance, Adm. William F. Bull Halsey. Accident [] In 1960, he had been offered the title role in Elmer Gantry, but Burt Lancaster filled the part because Hingle had been in a near-fatal accident. that I felt more comfortable than I did anywhere and I was where God Later in his career, he was known for playing judges, police officers and other authority figures. He missed and fell back down the elevator shaft, plunging 30 feet to the bottom. It amused Hingle that, after a long and distinguished career on stage, screen and television spanning almost 50 years, he finally gained wide popular recognition in four blockbuster Batman movies. He fractured his skull, wrist, hip and most of the ribs on his left side. a school play ("At that time it didn't seem like much of a way to make He said two actors were responsible for his deciding to become a professional actor. He was 84. He earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957). '', ''I think that probably most good actors are character actors,'' he suggested in his familiar baritone during a recent interview. But character actors like Walter Huston and Hume Cronyn did such a variety!" Hingle was widely known for portraying the father of Sally Field's title character Norma Rae (1979). However, six weeks into the run of Kazan's Broadway production of Archibald MacLeish's verse drama JB, he had a near-fatal accident. Incredibly, he was back at work almost immediately, albeit with a limp, which he had for the rest of his life. And few people could have made more of a second lease on life. Select Page. During the 1954-55 Broadway season, he played Gooper in Tennessee Williamss Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 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