Ron Perlman’s $40 Fallout Voice Line and the Mystery of Not Playing the Games

Ron Perlman cashed a $40 check, grabbed a sandwich, and left Fallout’s legacy to the gamers. The actor voiced the iconic intro line for the post-apocalyptic RPG franchise in 1997, later describing the experience as a mystery he never anticipated would endure.

“The whole Fallout thing is a mystery to me,” Perlman said. “I didn’t see that coming. I just did a couple lines and, you know, got my $40 and my sandwich and went home.”

Perlman’s voice acting process remains direct and transactional. “I come in, I rip it, I get out,” he said.

Despite appearing in 33 video games—including Fallout, Halo 3, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3—Perlman has never played any of them. Fallout 4 later broke continuity by using player voice actors for the intro, a shift Perlman did not influence or witness firsthand.