Farewell Pat Hingle, Character Actor, and the Original Lady Thiang

Pat Hingle, the folksy, grandpa-like actor who played dozens of character roles on stage and screen, died on Sat. Jan. 3 at his home in Carolina Beach, NC. He was 84. Hingle was one of those actors who would cause you to say, "Oh yeah, I know that guy, but what's his name?" Many of the obits are first listing his stint as Commisoner Gordon in the Batman franchise as his best-known role, but he was a father to Sally Field in Norma Rae and Warren Beatty in Splendor in the Grass. On Broadway he starred as the title character in the Pulitzer Prize-winning poetic drama J.B., a modernatization of the Job story; played the original Gooper in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; and was a wily Ben Franklin in the Roundabout revival of 1776. He also starred in Strange Interlude, The Odd Couple, Blues for Mister Charlie, and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs for which he received a Tony nomination. I remember him in a TV version of All the Way Home opposite Joanne Woodward and Eileen Heckart.  

As a result of his star turn in J.B., Hingle was cast in the lead role of the film version of Elmer Gantry as a fire-breathing evangelist. Before filming commenced, the actor fell down an elevator shaft and fractured his skull, wrist, hip, and most of his ribs on the left side. The role went to Burt Lancaster who won an Oscar for Best Actor. As a result of the accident, Hingle also lost the little finger of his left hand. Remember the scene in Norma Rae when Hingle is consoling Sally Field as his daughter about the dangers of working in the textile mills and he pats her on the shoulder and you see his missing digit? It was startlingly real and effective. Hingle was much more than Commisioner Gordon (a relatively tiny role).

Another notable performer to have left us is Dorothy Sarnoff, the original Lady Thiang in the Broadway run of The King and I who died on Dec. 20. An opera star, Sarnoff was at first reluctant to take the role in the Rodger and Hammerstein show, fearing it would be beneath her. But she stopped the show and garnered critics' praise with her solo "Something Wonderful." She went on to become a pioneer in the field of image consulting, working with such clients as Jimmy Carter, Bob Dole, and Menachim Begin.

--David Sheward