Dick Hallorann

Dick Hallorann
The Shining character
Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann in The Shining
First appearance	The Shining (1977)
Last appearance	Doctor Sleep (2019)
Created by	Stephen King
Portrayed by	Scatman Crothers (1980) Melvin Van Peebles (1997) Arthur Woodley (2016) Carl Lumbly (2019)
In-universe information
Full name	Richard Hallorann
Occupation	Head Chef at The Overlook Hotel
Family	Carl Halloran (brother; deceased) Rose Hallorann (grandmother) Andy Halloran (great-uncle)

Richard "Dick" Hallorann is a fictional character created by Stephen King from his 1977 novel The Shining. He has the ability to use telepathic abilities he called "the shining" and is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel. He comes across Danny Torrance, a young boy who is also telepathic, and learns that the spirits of the hotel have taken control over Jack, Danny's father.

Hallorann is portrayed by Scatman Crothers in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of the novel. He was later portrayed by Melvin Van Peebles in the 1997 miniseries adaptation, Arthur Woodley in the 2016 operatic adaptation and Carl Lumbly in the 2019 film Doctor Sleep, an adaptation of the 2013 novel of the same name.^[1]

Novels[]

The Shining[]

Hallorann first appears in The Shining, where he is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. While packing away for winter one day, Hallorann meets the new caretaker, Jack Torrance and his family: his wife, Wendy and son Danny. Hallorann discovers that Danny carries the same psychic abilities as him. He tells Danny that, when Hallorann was a child, he discovered that he and his grandmother could carry conversations with each other without even moving their lips. She called this telepathy "The Shining". Hallorann warns Danny that the Overlook can be dangerous, especially to those who carry "The Shining". Later, Hallorann is contacted by Danny, who reveals that his father had become influenced by Delbert Grady and the other spirits inhabiting the hotel. Hallorann returns to the hotel in an attempt to rescue Danny and Wendy from Jack, and the three of them escape together as the hotel explodes and kills Jack.

It[]

Hallorann is mentioned in Stephen King's 1986 novel, It, as being the founder of The Black Spot, a bar in Derry, Maine which catered towards African-American soldiers and veterans. The Black Spot was eventually burned down in an act of racial hatred by a group titled "The Maine Legion of White Decency". Hallorann uses his Shining ability to find survivors and rescue them, one of them being Will Hanlon, who went on to become the father of Mike Hanlon, a central character in It. It is suggested that the arson of The Black Spot was initiated by Pennywise.^[2][3] The Black Spot was also referenced in King's novel, Insomnia.^[4]

Doctor Sleep[]

In Stephen King's 2013 sequel, Doctor Sleep, which occurs after the events at The Overlook, Hallorann remains close with Wendy and Danny, and becomes something of a mentor to Danny. One night, Danny wakes up to use the restroom, only to encounter Lorraine Massey, one of the spirits from The Overlook, prompting Wendy to call Hallorann for help. Hallorann reveals that, as a child, he was mentally, physically and sexually abused by his granduncle, Andy. After Andy's death, Hallorann was haunted by his ghost, but his grandmother taught Hallorann how to lock away such ghosts in an imaginary "lockbox". Hallorann teaches Danny this technique.

Years later, Danny (now going simply by "Dan") attempts to locate Hallorann for help protecting fellow "Shiner" Abra Stone from the True Knot Cult. Dan discovers that Hallorann had died in 1999, but he is still able to communicate with and advise Dan by briefly possessing the body of Eleanor Ouellette, a woman in the hospice where Dan works.^[5]

Other media[]

The Shining (film)[]

Hallorann was portrayed by musician Scatman Crothers in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation The Shining. While the film departs from King's novel in many ways (much to King's chagrin), one of the most notable changes is Hallorann's death. In King's novel, Hallorann survives Torrance's rampage. However in the film, Hallorann arrives at The Overlook Hotel after sensing that Danny and Wendy are in danger. Hallorann is subsequently axed in the stomach by Torrance and left for dead, killing him. His dead body is then discovered by Wendy when The Overlook attempts to trick her.^[6][7][8]

Before the role was cast, the original choice for the role of Hallorann was Slim Pickens, due to working with Kubrick on Dr. Strangelove. However, Pickens refused to work with Kubrick again after being annoyed with the director for his perfectionism during the filming of that project. The role eventually went to Crothers, who had stated that he had wanted to play the role of Hallorann before the film had even started production. The filming of The Shining and Kubrick's notorious reputation for repeating takes multiple times to get the perfect shot did not sit well with Crothers. During the scene where Hallorann explains The Shining ability to Danny Torrance for example, Crothers began to burst into tears after 148 takes to get the scene right. The shot of Hallorann in a state of shock and horror after being contacted by Danny while staying in Miami also took another 60 takes, which again proved strenuous to Crothers.^[9][10][11]

The Shining (miniseries)[]

In Stephen King's 1997 miniseries adaptation of the novel directed by Mick Garris, Stephen King's The Shining, King wanted more accuracy to the source material, due to his noted hatred of Kubrick's film adaptation. Hallorann is portrayed by Melvin Van Peebles in this interpretation, and is attacked by Torrance with a croquet mallet rather than an axe, and survives his encounter like in the novel. While the miniseries itself gained mixed reviews, Van Peebles's performance as Hallorann was seen as one of the few points of critical acclaim in the miniseries.^[12][13]

The Shining (opera)[]

Hallorann appears in the operatic adaptation of King's novel portrayed by Arthur Woodley in a baritone part. In this adaptation, he is again attacked with a mallet by Torrance, but is left unconscious and remains in The Overlook Hotel when it explodes, causing him to suffer the same fate as his film counterpart.^[14]

Doctor Sleep (film)[]

Similarly to the novel, Hallorann's ghost instructs Dan to use Lockboxes to lock away the bad apparitions. Hallorann's spirit later appears again to instruct Dan to protect Abra.^{[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]}

Possible Hallorann film[]

Prior to the release of Doctor Sleep, Warner Bros. had enough confidence in the film that they hired Mike Flanagan to script a prequel focusing on the character, with the working title Hallorann. Following the disappointing box-office performance of Doctor Sleep, however, the future of the project is unclear.^[23]

Reception[]

Hallorann's portrayal in the book, as well as the performance by Scatman Crothers have been positively received by fans. While not as well acclaimed as Crothers's portrayal, Melvin Van Peebles's portrayal of Hallorann in the 1997 miniseries adaptation also received positive reviews.^[24]

Hallorann's death in the film adaptation of The Shining is seen as being one of the first movies to start the trope of "The Black Guy Always Dies First In Horror Movies". This is a trope that recognises the fact that African-American or minority characters often don't survive horror movies, and are sometimes the first to be killed off. Despite being the first person killed in The Shining, Hallorann is also the only person (aside from Jack Torrance) to die during the film, and is the only on-screen death.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30]}

For his performance as Hallorann, Crothers won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1981, as well as Best Supporting Actor from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror for his portrayal.^[31][32]

In The Simpsons's Treehouse of Horror parody of The Shining, dubbed "The Shinning", the role of Hallorann is filled by Groundskeeper Willie, who refers to the ability to "Shine" as "The Shinning". As in the film, Willie is axed by Homer Simpson, who fills in for the role of Jack Torrance.^[33] Hallorann is again parodied in the music video for "Spit It Out" by heavy metal band Slipknot. The video parodies the film as a whole, with the band's keyboardist, Craig Jones filling in for the role of Hallorann in the narrative.^[34][35][36]

References[]