Ron Perlman’s Surprising Fallout Connection

Legendary actor Ron Perlman, known for his iconic roles and one of the most recognizable chins in Hollywood, has lent his voice to nearly every Fallout game since the series kicked off in 1997. His involvement, however, stemmed from a rather simple motivation: hunger. In a recent episode of The Joe Vulpis Podcast, Perlman shared his initial experience with the franchise, revealing, “They gave me $40 and a sandwich,” when he agreed to collaborate with Interplay on the original Fallout.

Fast forward a year and a half, and Perlman received a call that would change everything. “Hey, you remember Fallout?” he recalls. His answer wasn’t what you’d expect: “No.” The person on the line informed him that the game had unexpectedly sold over 100,000 copies by the end of ’97. Perlman was clearly taken aback, exclaiming, “Really? Cool.” He ended up voicing the character for the sequel, then the third and fourth installments, ultimately witnessing the evolution of Fallout into a massive brand, though he admitted, “I didn’t see that coming.”

Interestingly, Perlman has never actually played the Fallout games. His experience with them was brief: “I did a couple of lines, and, you know, got my $40 and my sandwich and went home.” At this point, it had been seven years since his breakout role as Vincent in Beauty and the Beast, and he still had seven years before donning the iconic red makeup in Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy.

Reflecting on his gaming experience, he noted, “I’m not a gamer […], I wouldn’t know which game goes into which piece of hardware. I’ve never played any of the games.” Despite having voiced characters in a string of high-profile games like Call of Duty and both Halo 2 and Halo 3, he finds the entire Fallout phenomenon to be a bit of a mystery. As for Bethesda’s relationship with the series, he commented, “I don’t think Bethesda hates Fallout… they just don’t fully understand its roots and arguably, don’t care.”