Douglas Rain has died.
Douglas Rain was a founding member of the Stratford Theatre Festival in 1953.
He was a Tony-nominated classical actor who had many roles on stage and on TV and movies.
But he’s best remembered for a role in which his face did not appear. Only his voice.
Douglas Rain was the voice of HAL, the space computer with a mind of his own, in the film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’
He also provided the voice in a sequel in 2010.
Rain starred in dozens of classical plays at Stratford and other theatres over decades.
But it’s as HAL the spacecraft computer which was the Hal that he became famous for.Rain could have made a lot more money for the role than he did, but he refused many offers to do commercials in the HAL voice, because he respected the director , Stanley Kubrick, and wanted the character HAL not to be corrupted by TV commercials.
Actor Douglas Rain, of Stratford, and the voice of HAL, was 90. he died at St. Mary’s Hospital in Stratford.