Danny Lloyd

Familiar to moviegoers as the tormented tyke Danny Torrance of Stanley Kubrick's horror classic "The Shining" (1980), Danny Lloyd made his film debut at the tender age of six. He was personally selected for the role by Kubrick, who chose him for his ability to stay focused for long periods of time. In short order, Lloyd was riding a Big Wheel bike down lengthy hallways and being chased by a menacing Jack Nicholson. However, despite the macabre nature of the chilling film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, Lloyd never realized he was a part of a scary movie. The legendary Kubrick was careful to keep the terrifying elements of the tale away from the boy; it wasn't until years later that Lloyd became aware that he had appeared in one of the most popular horror films of all time. Two years after "The Shining" hit theaters with the force of waves of blood emanating from an elevator, Lloyd appeared in the made-for-TV biopic "Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy" (1982) as the younger version of President Richard Nixon's co-conspirator. The project was criticized for allowing the convicted burglar/conspirator/wire-tapper a soapbox, which mattered little to the child actor. However, Lloyd lost interest in filmmaking and retired from the spotlight. He dove into his schoolwork and grew up to be a biology professor at a community college in Kentucky. He returned briefly to play in a cameo roll in "Doctor Sleep" (2019), the sequel to "The Shining."