Mark Hamill Pays Tribute To Late Harley Quinn Voice Actor Arleen Sorkin

This week, the sad news broke that actor Arleen Sorkin had passed away at age 67. Sorkin was best known for playing Calliope Jones in Days of Our Lives in addition to originating the role of Harley Quinn in Batman: The Animated Series. Sorkin made her DC debut in 1992 in the episode “Joker’s Favor” and went on to play Harley in nine episodes of the series. She also voiced the character in The Adventures of Batman & Robin, Superman: The Animated Series, The Batman Superman Movie: World’s Finest, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker,  Batman: Vengeance, Gotham Girls, Static Shock, Justice League, Batman: Arkham Asylum, DC Universe Online, and DC Universe Online: The Last Laugh. Of course, Sorkin originally played Harley Quinn opposite Mark Hamill’s Joker. Yesterday, the Star Wars legend took to Instagram to pay tribute to Sorkin.

“Devastated to learn we’ve lost the brilliant Arleen Sorkin. Not just a wonderful talent, but a truly wonderful person. I’m grateful not only to have worked with her, but to have been her friend. 🙏 Sending my heartfelt condolences to her family & loved ones. 💔,” Hamill wrote. You can view his post below:

In 2021, Hamill spoke about Sorkin’s important role in bringing Harley Quinn to life. “She had no specific name in the script… just Joker’s Hench-Wench,” Hamill explained. “I’ll never forget hearing Arleen voice her for the 1st time. We were all knocked out by her performance & knew we were witnessing greatness. #BirthOfAnIcon Thank you, Arleen! from your [Joker emoji]”

Last year, Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy passed away. At the time, Hamill took to social media to honor his former co-star.  “Stunned by the loss of this brilliant actor. Words can’t express my admiration and respect for the man. I loved him like a brother. #RIPKevinConroy 💔”. 

Before his passing, Conroy also spoke about Sorkin’s work.

“I mention that because Paul Dini created the role of Harley Quinn for Arleen Sorkin, who’s an incredible comedic actor,” he explained. “She does character work, and she just nailed it. I mean, that sort of gum-chewing, wise ass, ‘Joisey’ broad, but crazy at the same time.

“And then Tara Strong came along and just did a slightly different tweak on it, but was brilliant. And now the most recent film version is with Melissa Rauch, and she nails it. But it’s so interesting to see different people. No one is better than anyone else, it’s just different takes on the same thing. It’s just so interesting to see different people give their kind of take on the character.”

Our thoughts are with Sorkin’s family and friends at this difficult time.