Nov 12, 2018
By Michael Kramer
A Canadian actor who played some of Shakespeare’s most intriguing characters onstage – but is probably best known for supplying the creepily calm voice of the rogue computer HAL in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001; A Space Odyssey has died.
Douglas Rain was 90.
The Stratford Festival says Rain died Sunday of natural causes just outside Stratford, Ontario. Rain was in the festival’s founding company – and spent 32 seasons performing there, until 1998.
His memorable roles at Stratford included playing Claudio in Measure for Measure in 1954 – Malvolio in Twelfth Night in 1957 – and Edgar in “King Lear” in 1964.
But it was the aloof voice of HAL – where Rain entered the public’s consciousness. The American Film Institute named the malevolent computer the 13th greatest movie villain of all time.