A Stand-In for HAL

Re “Tracking HAL’s Odyssey,” Nov. 27: Yesterday I was transported down memory lane from sunny L.A. to wintry England, 1966. It was 8 a.m. and Stanley Kubrick took Keir Dullea and me aside to rehearse HAL’s big death scene. As first assistant director (stage manager) of principal photography, it fell on me to play the diabolical, inanimate HAL (a guide-track for Douglas Rain) and to sing “Daisy, Daisy” as I died. The device in your photograph of HAL was used only as a prop.

Frank Nesbitt

Agoura Hills