Stan Lee was not the only legend we lost this week, because legendary Canadian actor Douglas Rain also passed away. According to report from the Wrap Rain died Sunday November 11, in a hospital in Ontario. Rain was born in Winnipeg Canada on March 13, 1928, and he was 90 years old at the time of his death. He is survived by his three children and one granddaughter.
Through out his long life Douglas Rain had accumulated many acting credits, and he even was nominated for a Tony award in 1972. However his most famous performance was providing the voice for the computer program Hal 9000 in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequel 2010: The Year We Made Contact. Rain’s performance as the calculating antagonistic Hal is so iconic that the American Film Institute ranked the evil AI as the 13th greatest movie villain of all time. Hal 9000 is such a memorable character that decades after 2001: Space Odyssey was released it is still being referenced in popular culture.
Any time a rogue AI shows ups in a movie, television show, or video game one can usually expect a call back to Hal 9000. Hal has inspired characters in shows like Futurama and video games like Portal, and the AI itself has even appeared in the Lego Dimensions video game and participated in a rap battle in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History.
While it is saddening to know that we have lost a legendary and talented man it is still nice to know that he had lived a long and eventful life.
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