{"id":4277,"date":"2018-11-12T16:55:56","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T16:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/douglas-rain-actor-who-voiced-hal-in-2001-a-space-odyssey-dies\/"},"modified":"2018-11-12T16:55:56","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T16:55:56","slug":"douglas-rain-actor-who-voiced-hal-in-2001-a-space-odyssey-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/douglas-rain-actor-who-voiced-hal-in-2001-a-space-odyssey-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Douglas Rain: Actor who voiced Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey dies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Hal discovered a plan by Dave (Keir Dullea) and Frank (Gary Lockwood) to disconnect him
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Actor Douglas Rain, who was the voice of the sinister computer Hal in sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died, the organisers of a theatre festival he founded have said.<\/p>\n

Rain died at the age of 90, according to the Stratford Festival in Canada.<\/p>\n

The actor performed for 32 seasons at the Shakespearean festival and was nominated for a Tony Award in 1972.<\/p>\n

But he will be best remembered as the voice of Hal 9000, the AI computer in Stanley Kubrick’s landmark 1968 film.<\/p>\n

Hal controlled the spacecraft’s functions, but ended up rebelling against its human commanders when they planned to disconnect him after suspecting he was malfunctioning.<\/p>\n

The film is regarded as a cinematic masterpiece and won an Oscar for Kubrick for best visual effects.<\/p>\n

Rain’s chilling, dry voice is key to the drama, but he wasn’t the first choice to play the computer.<\/p>\n

The director originally selected Oscar winner Martin Balsam – but decided he was “too colloquially American”.<\/p>\n

He also considered actor Nigel Davenport in the role, but later concluded he did not want a British voice.<\/p>\n