Imagine being on a film set and not knowing that you’re part of one of the best horror films of all time. That’s exactly what happened to Danny Lloyd, who only found out when he was 10 years old that Stanley Kubrick had completely lied to him about The Shining.
Most horror fans would agree that Kubrick’s The Shining is one of the most beloved (and feared) films ever made. Kubrick took Stephen King’s novel and turned it into a masterpiece of horror cinema. At the center of it all was Danny Lloyd, providing a performance that will live forever as one of the greatest in the genre.
But what became of this horror icon who managed to avoid the spotlights for so long? Here’s all we know about his life after his dreadful stay at the Overlook Hotel!
At just six years old, Lloyd was given the opportunity of a lifetime: he was set to star in Stanley Kubrick’s latest horror feature film. After 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and Spartacus, Kubrick was already an institution. Around 5,000 kids were considered for the role of Danny Torrance, but Lloyd’s ability to stay concentrated for long stretches of time captivated Kubrick, who was a well-known perfectionist.
Naturally, a six-year-old kid would have a hard time dealing with the spooks of the Overlook Hotel. To combat this, Kubrick told Danny Lloyd that The Shining was actually a drama, not a horror film.
After The Shining, Lloyd only tried his hand at acting with Will: G. Gordon Liddy, a made-for-TV movie released in 1982. He would then quietly retire from acting, even before his career had properly started, only returning for a very, very brief cameo in 2019’s Doctor Sleep. With just one feature film in his oeuvre, Lloyd had managed to do what many celebrities still struggle to achieve: he had found peace and a way to experience a “normal life”.
Away from the prying eyes of the media and his legacy as a horror icon, Lloyd pursued academic endeavors. He’s been an associate biology professor at the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in Kentucky since 2004—and no, he never talks about The Shining with his students.
Even though he stays away from interviews and leads a very private life, Lloyd has mentioned that he enjoyed his time at the Overlook. Unlike some of his co-stars, like Shelley Duvall, Lloyd had a great time working with Kubrick on The Shining.
The decision to leave acting behind was just due to his being uninterested in the life of an actor, finding even more meaning working on a farm instead (as he did for at least a decade outside Louisville, Kentucky).
Hollywood isn’t kind to its young celebrities. The many cases of child stars who fall into disgrace have more than proved that. Then, there are stories like Danny Lloyd’s; married and with four children, not only did Danny finally escape the evils of the Overlook, but he also avoided the many pitfalls of the entertainment industry—while still managing to become a veritable film icon.
