Danny Lloyd

Maintained by Mary S

Newly Updated May 2006 (See At Bottom)



image courtesy of Julie M. Fidler
www.stuckinthe70s.com



The Facts

In the late 70s, Stanley Kubrick sent out assistant Leon Vitali to find the right boy to play Danny Torrance in his horror epic, The Shining. Five thousand candidates throughout the Midwest auditioned over a period of several months; Danny Lloyd's videotape was chosen. The boy hailed from Pekin, a small town in Illinois, and was known to live there for at least some period of time after filming. Kubrick called him, "a terrific boy. He had instinctive taste [and] was very smart, very talented, and very sensible." Lloyd acted in only one other work, a television movie, "Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy," in 1982.



Generally Accepted Pieces of the Story

Danny was six/seven years old during shooting, which means that he was probably born in 1973 (this is his listed birthyear on the IMDB). Lloyd was closely guarded during filming of The Shining and was unaware of the film's genre at the time. He made the decision to quit acting shortly after The Shining was completed.



The Rumor Mill
Here are some predominant claims surrounding the post-Shining years of Danny Lloyd.


Lloyd was supposedly interviewed at some point in his teenage years by a local newspaper and said that his experiences did not make him "unique," that he had been so young at the time of his experience that he couldn't remember much about filming, and (possibly) that he had never seen The Shining.
One source claims Lloyd was working at a Walmart in Pekin, Illinois in the early 90s.
The Internet Movie Database lists Lloyd's current occupation as "a science teacher in the Midwest".



From An Indirect Interview



Richard Zowie, a freelance writer, interviewed Lloyd's mother over the phone a few years ago and here's some of the information obtained:
-- Lloyd has seen The Shining, contrary to an online article I once read. He was shown "a heavily edited version" sometime between the ages of 12 and 14, and was surprised by the movie because he had been under the impression that he'd filmed a drama. As a side note to that, during one of the many disturbing scenes involving Lloyd in The Shining, when Wendy becomes angry with Jack in the Colorado room and picks Danny up, she is actually carrying a life-sized doll.
-- Danny was for a while a science teacher in the Midwest. It seems he's very invested in retaining his privacy, for which reason I will not further disclose his location.
-- Zowie mentioned Mrs. Lloyd's impressions of the principal individuals involved in making The Shining:
Stanley Kubrick: "'a genius'"
Jack Nicholson: a nice man
Shelley Duvall: a very nice lady who "invited the Lloyds to come over to her house and swim in her pool whenever they wanted"

So special thanks to Richard Zowie, who also turns out to be the IMDB contributor for Lloyd's occupation and mini-biography.



If anyone has any information to share,
E-mail me: Mary S.



Note: I respect Danny Lloyd's privacy, and the likelihood is that since he's remained an anonymous figure for more than twenty years, he probably wants to stay as such. Don't bother the guy if he doesn't want to be bothered.

Update May 2006: This site had not been updated since 2002 but in the past few months I've gotten a lot of e-mail from those of you who know Dan Lloyd today. Using your tips about his location while protecting your anonymity, I looked him up and sent him one e-mail which went unanswered. So as of today this is just a tribute page and his whereabouts are his and your little secret.

I'll refrain from posting the "current" picture (I think it's a few years old now) which a few of you have sent in from the Internet until Lloyd himself sends permission to post it or another, but thanks everybody!

Best wishes to Dan Lloyd in his future,
Mary.

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