25 Years Later: Where Is the Cast of 'Batman' Now?
Michael Keaton
Role: Bruce Wayne/Batman
Career highlight before Batman: Keaton was hot in 1989 coming off Burton’s previous film, Beetlejuice
Career highlight after Batman: There was of course the 1992 sequel, Batman Returns, but 1996’s Multiplicity and 1997’s Jackie Brown were big moments before he began working far less frequently.
Where is he now? Preparing to crash the Oscar season in a big way in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, which has a Batman in-joke plot: Keaton plays an actor who once famously played an iconic superhero on screen.
—Kristopher Tapley
Jack Nicholson
Role: Jack Napier/The Joker
Career highlight before Batman: Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining, Terms of Endearment? Take your pick.
Career highlight after Batman: Picking up his third Oscar, for Best Actor in As Good As It Gets.
Where is he now? Unofficial semi-retirement, which means attending as many Lakers games as he can. Nicholson last appeared in James L. Brooks’s How Do You Know in 2010.
—Gregory Ellwood
Kim Basinger
Role: Vicki Vale
Career highlight before Batman: 9 1/2 Weeks
Career highlight after Batman: Winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential.
Where is she now? After some lean times following her Oscar-winning turn in Confidential, she’s been much more active over the past two years. She appeared alongside Liam Neeson in Third Person and Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro in Grudge Match.
—Gregory Ellwood
Robert Wuhl
Role: Alexander Knox
Career highlight before Batman:Wuhl stood out opposite Kevin Costner in baseball dramedy Bull Durham
Career highlight after Batman: Heading up HBO’s mid-'90s comedy series Arli$$
Where is he now? Still working in films like Contest and series like TNT’s Franklin & Bash, and of course a fixture on the New York Academy member meet-and-greet circuit during the Oscar season.
—Kristopher Tapley
Billy Dee Williams
Role: Harvey Dent
Career highlight before Batman: Lady Sings the Blues, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi
Career highlight after Batman: Debatable. Pick a guest spot in a TV series or random film over the past 20 years.
Where is he now? Consistently working whether as a voiceover actor or as a guest star on TV series such as Glee or NCIS.
—Gregory Ellwood
Michael Gough
Role: Alfred Pennyworth
Career highlight before Batman:A mainstay in the Hammer Horror Films of the 1950s and ’60s.
Career highlight after Batman: Reprising his role of Alfred through three Batman sequels and becoming the franchise’s most notable fixture.
Where is he now? Gough passed away in March 2011 at the age of 94, but not before collaborating with Burton again on films like Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, and Alice in Wonderland.
—Kristopher Tapley
Pat Hingle
Role: Commissioner James Gordon
Career highlight before Batman: Numerous roles on stage, screen (most memorably in Splendor in the Grass) and the early days of TV.
Career highlight after Batman: Batman Returns, Batman Forever
Where is he now? Hingle passed away at the age of 84 in January of 2009.
—Gregory Ellwood
Jack Palance
Role: Mob boss Carl Grissom
Career highlight before Batman: Landing an Oscar nomination for his black-hat villain in George Stevens’s classic 1953 western Shane.
Career highlight after Batman: Much to the surprise of many, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance opposite Billy Crystal in 1992’s City Slickers (and doing a set of one-armed push-ups in acceptance).
Where is he now? Palance passed away in November 2006 at the age of 87.
—Kristopher Tapley
William Hootkins
Role: Gotham Police Lt. Eckhardt
Career highlight before Batman: Flying for the rebels as Red Six (Porkins) in George Lucas’s Star Wars.
Career highlight after Batman: Probably feeling the love at geek conventions as a result of his work in films like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Batman, and Flash Gordon.
Where is he now? Hootkins passed away in October 2005 at the age of 57.
—Kristopher Tapley
Jerry Hall
Role: Alicia Hall
Career highlight before Batman: Having her face splashed across magazine covers as a model for the likes of Vogue and Cosmopolitan.
Career highlight after Batman: Mostly her marriage to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, though she had a few theatre jaunts on London’s West End.
Where is she now? Biding her time with things like British television’s celebrity dance off show Strictly Come Dancing.
—Kristopher Tapley
Tracey Walter
Role: Bob the Goon
Career highlight before Batman: Repo Man
Career highlight after Batman: City Slickers
Where is he now? Working every year or so in independent films or taking a TV series guest appearance here or there.
—Gregory Ellwood
To read about the behind-the-scenes talent, including director Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman, check out the rest of the gallery at Hitfix.
Related Links
25 Years of Tim Burton’s Batman and Why I Owe It A Lot
Which actor played these Batman roles the best?
Breaking down Justice League, Wonder Woman, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Photo credits: @Warner Bros. and @Everett Collection
