Eric Dane “just had this way of speaking,” his spouse Rebecca Gayheart Dane remembers.
The widow of the “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Euphoria” star is talking out for the first time since Eric Dane’s death on Feb. 19, in help of a charitable initiative that was deeply necessary to the actor. Dane died at the age of 53 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
In the closing weeks of his life, Dane took half in a voice restoration project championed by AI firm ElevenLabs. It was a method of restoring his skill to speak — by way of an artificial voice created utilizing previous recordings from Dane’s voice – in addition to an effort to go away an necessary a part of himself behind for his daughters, Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14.
Dane “was really excited about it, because he was losing his voice, and it was becoming more difficult for him to communicate each and every day. So it became sort of urgent,” Gayheart Dane tells Variety.
Weeks earlier than he died, Dane was in a position to hear how ElevenLabs recreated his voice with precision from an array of previous recordings that the actor supplied. ElevenLabs
“He was waiting anxiously to hear it, and when we got it from ElevenLabs it was a really big moment. It was a powerful moment. We played it, and Eric became visibly emotional,” Gayheart Dane says. “And when I heard it, I cried. I think everyone in the room did.”
ElevenLabs has pledged to supply a lifetime software program license and help providers totally free to those that endure from terminal neurological ailments reminiscent of ALS, which steadily strip away an individual’s skill to talk. The firm, based totally in New York and London, makes a speciality of audio expertise and provides an unlimited database of licensed and copyright-compliant voices that makes use of can entry as an AI platform. ElevenLabs has pledged to assist 1 million individuals with providers that quantity to $1 billion.
To assist unfold the phrase, the firm has produced a collection of 11 docu-shorts, “11 Voices,” profiling a handful of the greater than 7,000 individuals who have been helped by its expertise and the voice restoration initiative. Dane had been scheduled to be a part of a bonus episode for the collection, however then his well being started to deteriorate, which made filming inconceivable. “11 Voices” is ready to debut March 13 at the SXSW competition in Austin, Texas. Gayheart Dane will participate in a panel session tied to the premiere that was to have featured Dane.
“He wanted to advocate for love and for the movement [around ALS] and so I’m there to do this for him,” she says. “For a million people to get a voice to be able to communicate with their children or their loved ones or their caretakers or their doctors or in their job — this is a really huge movement.”
Gayheart Dane says her household is “still in a state of shock” at Dane’s passing after being recognized with ALS in 2024. The adversity that her household confronted head-on introduced out the greatest in many individuals round them, she says.
“I just want to thank everybody for being so kind to us during the last couple of years. It’s been challenging and meaningful, and people are kind,” Gayheart Dane says.
“I’m having trouble receiving all of the support and love coming at me from every which way because of Eric and the [entertainment] community that’s so generous with their time. They’ve been holding me and the girls up the last two weeks, and I don’t think they’re going anywhere. I think they’re in it for the long haul. Hollywood gets a bad rap. That kind of makes me mad, because we have a lovely community of people, and I’m so grateful for them.”
ElevenLabs’ AI system is fine-tuned to soak up each syllable and nuance of an individual’s pure talking voice from pre-existing recordings. The skill to supply one thing that’s near the actual factor will probably be groundbreaking for households touched by ALS, Cerebral Palsy, Motor Neuron illness and different debilitating sicknesses.
Mati Staniszewski, cofounder of New York-based ElevenLabs, says the voice restoration venture is an instance of utilizing AI instruments to reinforce one among the traits that makes us distinctive as people.
“Just being able to help people bring a little bit of their identity back, bring that incredible element of what makes us human, and see that both for the individual and also for people around them – that is incredibly motivating for us of what the technology can do for the world,” says Staniszewski. “I think there’s nothing better than seeing the impact of technology for good and seeing the happiness of people that use it. We’d love to give it to as many people as need it.”
A number of days after Dane bought his ElevenLabs voice system, Dane and Gayheart Dane performed it for his or her daughters.
“They were like, that’s not a recording. That’s your voice. That’s you. So it was spot on. He just had this way of speaking, and they captured it so beautifully,” Gayheart Dane says.
The couple’s teenage daughters, “signed off on it, and we were thrilled to have it because we knew what was coming down the pike,” Gayheart Dane says. “We were all really struggling with the voice loss that he was already experiencing. Knowing we had that in our back pocket, just felt really good. I’m sad, and I know Eric is too, that we didn’t ever get to really use it. But what I do know is that he would want as many people as possible to have access” to voice restoration expertise.
For Dane, given his legacy as an actor, the voice archive is especially significant.
“Your voice is such a big part of your craft and you’re a storyteller. He really understood how meaningful having the voice was. As his speech started to decrease, his ability to speak went away. He did lose a certain part of himself. He wasn’t able to express things in his own very special way. So he really understood how meaningful it was and the extraordinary honor giving someone back their voice and what that would feel like for others, and he wanted to make sure that he did everything he could do to make that happen,” Gayheart Dane says. “11 Voices is a great movement, and I know he’s happy that this is getting done. He could not be happier that a million people will get their voices back — that I know.”
ElevenLabs has made its mark over the previous few years with its expertise and by its focus on partaking in high-profile licensing offers with actors, household estates and by negotiating a groundbreaking AI settlement with SAG-AFTRA. The firm has made an acutely aware effort to be seen as respectful of artistic rights and copyright issues amid the grave fears that AI will probably be a Hollywood jobs killer.
“I’ve been learning more about ElevenLabs, and all the ways that they use someone’s voice, and all the ways of a patient who’s experienced voice loss can use the restored voice that they give them. It’s really incredible, because it’s just so realistic,” Gayheart Dane says. “What we don’t remember is that our voice is such a big part of who we are.”
