Douglas Rain, voice of HAL, has died (opens in new tab)

I've never heard that about John Williams, but it's probably not quite the same sort of thing. He must watch the nearly-finished rough cuts dozens of times in the process of scoring (which is one of the last steps in the movie making process). Then again, on the screen behind the orchestra, during the recording process. By the end, he probably knows the movie by heart and isn't excited to watch it yet again, just to see the last bit of polish.

That's pretty different from recording some voiceover lines in a studio then never even seeing the movie they fit into.

For some value of never watched. Usually the way orchestral segments of film scores are recorded is the orchestra is set up in a gigantic sound stage, and the film is projected above and behind the orchestra so that the conductor can see the film as the music is recorded. If the composer is a decent conductor, they usually do.

I can imagine that after days or weeks of that, going to see the finished product in a theater may not appeal.

> I find it pretty incredible that somebody could have such an iconic role in such an iconic movie

Well, according to a BBC obit [0], for Douglas Rain, 2001 was just 10 hours of recording - not with the other actors - over two days. I guess he couldn't have predicted the film's impact from that alone, and perhaps he didn't particularly enjoy Kubrick's other work.

[0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46178930

"I have never felt more conflicted with empathy for and gripped by fear of an electronic conscience since."

There are several episodes of Black Mirror that explore that idea... what is ethical with respect to something ("just bits") that's also someone (a self-aware conscious being). They've done a good job filling that question with a lot of emotion; some of those episodes are really gripping.

HAL did not have a baritone voice.

I think it'd depend on how fond of that role he was.

I visited the Stanley Kubrick exhibition in Barcelona this week-end, the 2001 area is still the one that gets me the most, they were projecting the opening of the movie, which is always breathtaking, but what got me the most is the HAL wall repeating the lines from the movie. A great place to visit if you have the the opportunity.