Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#14060
of 909177 performers
Top 5%
Pat Hingle represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 52 years in, and Pat is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Pat Hingle appears in 17 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Pat. On the Waterfront is the clearest case: a film rated 7.6 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for comedy, action, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Adam McKay, John Singleton, Tim Hill and others, Pat Hingle helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
On the Waterfront (1954) as Jocko (uncredited) · Batman (1989) as Commissioner Gordon · Batman Returns (1992) as Commissioner Gordon
Career snapshot
Ranked #14060 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
17
1954–2006
Career length
52 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.6
On the Waterfront
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
On the Waterfront
Most frequent director
Joel Schumacher
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Joel Schumacher
Most common genre
Action
8 titles
Average runtime
1h 49m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.8
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1950s
7.6 average MV
The 1950s are where the work and the material meet. On the Waterfront — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1950s
7.6
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1950s
7.9
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1950s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. On the Waterfront.
Most productive era
1990s
7 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.61 film | 6.81 film | 6.51 film | 6.41 film | 6.52 films | — |
| Action | — | — | 6.51 film | 6.92 films | 6.04 films | 6.01 film |
| Thriller | — | — | 6.51 film | 6.61 film | 6.61 film | 6.01 film |
| Comedy | — | — | — | 6.41 film | 5.82 films | 6.41 film |
| Crime | 7.61 film | — | 6.51 film | 6.92 films | 6.12 films | 6.01 film |
| Romance | 7.61 film | — | — | 6.41 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Highest rated performance · Career peak
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Jocko (uncredited). 7.6 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2006Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
The current state of the argument, as Mr. Dennit, Sr..
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
17 of 17 films
as Commissioner Gordon
Directed by Tim Burton
as Jocko (uncredited)
Directed by Elia Kazan
as Commissioner Gordon
Directed by Tim Burton
as Narrator / Rooter (voice)
Directed by Don Bluth
as Chief Jannings
Directed by Clint Eastwood
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Commissioner Gordon
Batman (1989)
Performance score7.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Commissioner Gordon gives Pat Hingle a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Jocko (uncredited)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Performance score7.4
On the Waterfront asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jocko (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Commissioner Gordon
Batman Returns (1992)
Performance score7.2
Batman Returns asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Commissioner Gordon is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Narrator / Rooter (voice)
The Land Before Time (1988)
Performance score7.2
The Land Before Time asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Narrator / Rooter (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Commissioner Gordon
Start here. Batman is the clearest statement of what Pat Hingle does — accessible, 126 minutes, and rated 7.3 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Pat at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
On the Waterfront (1954)
Keeps the crime register of Batman but asks for a colder reading of it.
Sudden Impact (1983)
Keeps the crime register of On the Waterfront but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Land Before Time (1988)
A deliberate change of key after Sudden Impact — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Batman Returns (1992)
A deliberate change of key after The Land Before Time — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Clint Eastwood
Director
2 films together
Notably Sudden Impact
Tim Burton
Director
2 films together
Notably Batman
Joel Schumacher
Director
2 films together
Notably Batman Forever
Elia Kazan
Director
1 film together
Notably On the Waterfront
Henry Hathaway
Director
1 film together
Notably Nevada Smith
Ted Post
Director
1 film together
Notably Hang 'em High
Charles Shyer
Director
1 film together
Notably Baby Boom
Don Bluth
Director
1 film together
Notably The Land Before Time
Stephen Frears
Director
1 film together
Notably The Grifters
Sam Raimi
Director
1 film together
Notably The Quick and the Dead
Howard Franklin
Director
1 film together
Notably Larger Than Life
Tim Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Muppets from Space
John Singleton
Director
1 film together
Notably Shaft
Adam McKay
Director
1 film together
Notably Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Tim Burton
Director
2 films together · 7.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
BatmanClint Eastwood
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Sudden ImpactJoel Schumacher
Director
2 films together · 5.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Batman ForeverElia Kazan
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
On the WaterfrontDon Bluth
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Land Before TimeTed Post
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hang 'em HighSam Raimi
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Quick and the DeadHenry Hathaway
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nevada SmithStephen Frears
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The GriftersAdam McKay
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky BobbyCharles Shyer
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Baby BoomTim Hill
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Muppets from SpaceJohn Singleton
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ShaftHoward Franklin
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Larger Than LifeSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
On the Waterfront
as Jocko (uncredited)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
On the Waterfront
as Jocko (uncredited)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
On the Waterfront
as Jocko (uncredited)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
On the Waterfront
as Jocko (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Batman
as Commissioner Gordon
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Pat Hingle has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
52 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Action Legend
Awarded
8 catalogue titles in action, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Batman
as Commissioner Gordon
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Batman
as Commissioner Gordon
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
On the Waterfront
as Jocko (uncredited)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Batman
as Commissioner Gordon
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Batman
as Commissioner Gordon
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Shaft
as Judge Dennis Bradford
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Baby Boom
as Hughes Larrabee
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Batman & Robin
as Commissioner Gordon
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Elliot Page
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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