Fallout New Vegas
Actor Matthew Perry tragically passed away on Saturday at the age of 54. The actor, obviously best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, had a wide-ranging career, including one that briefly encompassed the gaming realm.
Gamers are paying tribute to Perry for his fantastic performance as Benny in Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas, one of the most appreciated characters in one of the most beloved games in the series.
The way this happened, apparently, is that Perry spoke publicly about his love for the Fallout series. There’s a clip of him on Ellen (at about 8:45) talking about how he played Fallout 3 so much that he injured his hand and had to get injections to treat it. He then takes out a signed copy of the game, which along with an Xbox 360, he donates to raise money for the Humane Society.
This was seen by the Fallout team, and that ended up with Perry getting the role of Benny in the next game, New Vegas, the character that is present in the famous opener, and of course throughout the rest of the game as well. Here’s a sampling of his voicework from that intro to New Vegas:
In 2017, Chris Avellone said that he wished Benny could have been implemented as a possible companion, given how good the character was.
This is in fact the only video game role that Perry ever had, sticking to TV and a number of films. Currently, Bethesda’s Fallout series is relegated to Fallout 76 updates, with Fallout 5 probably close to a decade away with Bethesda’s current scheduling, unless new owner Microsoft gives it to a different studio (and they also own Obsidian now, of course). I would expect Bethesda or Obsidian to pay tribute to Perry themselves, and perhaps down the road, there could be some sort of in-game reference to his iconic performance as Benny.
It’s terribly sad what happened to Perry after so many great roles but a long and difficult life in which he struggled with addiction. His role as Benny will remain an important part of one of the best series in gaming, and it’s great to know what a huge fan he was, and how that ended up landing him the role in the first place. If you have New Vegas in your collection, maybe go say hi.
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