Actor Douglas Rain, supplier of HAL's voice, dies at age 90 | Entertainment News

By MARK KENNEDY, AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) – Canadian actor Douglas Rain, who plays some of Shakespeare's most intriguing characters on stage, is perhaps best known for providing the extremely quiet voice of the HAL computer in " 2001: Stanley Kubrick's "Space Odyssey" died at age 90.

The Stratford Festival said Rain had died Sunday of natural causes at St. Marys Memorial Hospital, just outside Stratford, Ontario. He was one of the founding members of the festival company and spent 32 seasons there, until 1998.

His roles at Stratford included Claudio in "Measure for Measure" in 1954, Malvolio in "Twelfth Night" in 1957, Edgar in "King Lear" in 1964, and Prince Hal in "Henry IV, Part 1" in 1958, a play of theater and a role in which he would return in 1965 and eventually assume the leading role in 1966.

But it's the distant voice of the artificially intelligent HAL 9000 – the forerunner of today's Alexa or Amazon Amazon – where Rain has entered public consciousness. Kubrick had heard Rain's voice in the 1960s documentary "Universe", which he had watched on several occasions, according to the actor. Rain was initially hired to tell "2001: The Space Odyssey", in 1968, but the director chose to take a different direction.

HAL is the main computer on board the Discovery 1 spacecraft, but it goes unnoticed. When astronaut Dave Bowman asks HAL to open the doors of the ship's pods, the latter is famous. "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can not do that," the machine refuses nicely. "This mission is too important for me to allow you to compromise it."

When astronauts try to disconnect HAL, he defends himself. At his stop, HAL sings the nursery rhyme "Daisy Bell" and pronounces in a memorable way: "I'm scared, Dave .. Dave, my mind is going away, I feel it." The American Film Institute has named HAL as the 13th biggest villain of all time, joining a list including Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader.

Stratford Festival Artistic Director, Antoni Cimolino, has called Rain one of the greatest acting talents in Canada and a "beacon in its development". He said that the humanity of the actor had shone in HAL.

"Douglas shared many of the qualities of Kubrick's iconic creation: precision, steel strength, enigma and infinite intelligence, as well as a sense of diabolical humor," said Cimolino. "But those of us who were lucky enough to have worked with Douglas quickly solved his riddle and discovered that warmth and humanity were at the center of his mystery, as evidenced by his care. for young members of our profession. "

Rain attended the University of Manitoba and studied in London at the Bristol Old Vic Theater School. He started playing radio plays. From 1974 to 1977, Rain was the head of the Anglophone Actor Section of the National Theater School of Canada.

Rain played in theaters and festivals across Canada, including at the Shaw Festival, where he played roles such as Caesar in "Caesar and Cleopatra" in 1983. He shared scenes with such personalities as Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith and Colm Feore. He was nominated for a Tony Award in 1972 for his role as William Cecil in "Vivat! Vivat! Regina!" His other Broadway credits include "The Golden Age" in 1963 and "The Broken Jug" in 1958.

Rain leaves to mourn his two sons, David and Adam, his daughter Emma, ​​his granddaughter, Salima, and his daughter-in-law, Asira.

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