R.I.P. Arleen Sorkin, original voice actor (and inspiration) for Harley Quinn - Yahoo Entertainment

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Arleen Sorkin

Arleen Sorkin has died. Although she was a veteran actor and performer with a number of credits to her name, Sorkin is most closely associated with a single role: DC Comics character Harley Quinn, who she was originally hired to play, as an unnamed side character, for a single episode of Batman: The Animated Series in 1992—and who she would continue to play for the next 20 years, crafting one of the single most important modern additions to the Batman mythos in the process. Her death was reported tonight by Deadline, after DC Studios co-head James Gunn, and long-time co-star Mark Hamill, both appeared to confirm the news. Sorkin was 67.

Born in Washington, D.C. in the 1950s, Sorkin studied theater in college—meeting Batman: TAS writer Paul Dini while the two were both at Emerson. Moving to New York after graduating, she became involved in the city’s comedy scene, booking radio ads and other small parts—including a recurring part as beloved character Calliope Jones on Days Of Our Lives, which, in addition to its own merits, was also destined to be one of the most influential soap opera gigs in all of comic book history.

Outside her voice acting work, Sorkin continued to hold a number of gigs—including a short stint co-hosting America’s Funniest People that ended in an acrimonious lawsuit in the early ’90s. Among her other jobs, she holds a strange position in the mythology of the sitcom Frasier, which was co-created by her husband, prolific TV writer and producer Christopher Lloyd: The show’s regular gag of having celebrities play the callers to Frasier Crane’s radio show was facilitated by Sorkin, who delivered the fill-in dialogue that was later replaced with the recordings from the famous cameos. (Sorkin herself appeared in the show’s final episode.)

In her later years, Sorkin was a regular on the comic convention scene, often teamed up with voice actor Diane Pershing—whose dynamic with Sorkin, as BTAS’ version of Poison Ivy, laid much of the groundwork for the characters’ future relationship. She was also a noted collector of movie and TV memorabilia, owning a hefty collection of Harley Quinn merch amongst her other treasures.

Sorkin is survived by her husband, Christopher Lloyd, and their two sons.