The Shining‘s Dick Hallorann – the psychically gifted head chef at the Overlook Hotel – also makes an appearance in Stephen King’s later novel IT. Of course, most people’s frame of reference for Dick Hallorann as a character is director Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 movie adaptation of The Shining. In that film, Hallorann is played by Scatman Crothers, and after forming a friendship with young fellow psychic Danny Torrance, ends up getting axed to death by Jack Torrance while trying to save him.
Notably, Hallorann survived Stephen King’s The Shining book, as well as its 1997 TV miniseries adaptation, which cast Melvin Van Peebles as the the kindhearted character. Hallorann went on to play an important role in King’s sequel book Doctor Sleep, although that role was converted into being Danny Torrance’s spirit advisor in the recent Doctor Sleep film, which followed the Kubrick continuity. Carl Lumbly played Hallorann in the Doctor Sleep movie, and did a good job recapturing the likeable warmth of Crothers’ version, even as a ghost.
However, Dick Hallorann’s appearances in Stephen King books aren’t limited to The Shining and its sequel. He also shows up in IT, as part of one of the many past Derry incidents that prove just how sick the town itself has become.
The Shining’s Dick Hallorann Appeared In IT
In Stephen King’s IT novel (and very briefly alluded to in 2017’s IT film) one of the many terrible incidents to occur every 27 years when Pennywise wakes up is the burning down of The Black Spot nightclub. The club’s clientele were almost entirely black soldiers from a nearby Army base, this included Dick Hallorann, who it’s revealed served as a cook in the Army. Sadly, the fire that burned down The Black Spot was by no means an accident, and was an arson perpetrated by the Maine Legion of White Decency, a counterpart of infamous racist organization the Ku Klux Klan.
The Black Spot fire happened in 1930 in King’s book, although obviously that date would need to be adjusted forward to fit with the 2017 IT and 2019 Doctor Sleep timelines. Hallorann obviously survived and escaped from the fire, and it’s a good thing he was there actually, since his “shine” powers enabled him to prevent the deaths of several other people, including Mike Hanlon’s father Will (who isn’t dead in the childhood portions of IT the book, that was a movie invention). Once outside, Hallorann also becomes one of the few adults in IT to perceive Pennywise in one of its various forms, likely thanks to his powers. Man, if Hallorann thought The Shining‘s Overlook Hotel was bad, wait until he realizes what Pennywise is.
