Beware! Spoilers for the work of Stephen King abound.
Stephen King has always been a self-referential writer. In addition to his poignant memoir On Writing and a multitude of forwards and afterwards in his Uncle Steve voice, the Master of Horror tends to inject his fiction with characters that bear a striking resemblance to his own persona. Equating writing with therapy, he often seems to be working through issues that underlie his novels and one can often pick out themes and seasons of life peeking through the windows of his work.
Before hitting the bestseller list, King was a young husband and father struggling to make ends meet and the weight of supporting a family frequently appears in his early writing. The newest King adaptation to hit the big screen, Rob Savage’s The Boogeyman, reimagines a story from the author’s first collection Night Shift in which a surly father mourns the deaths of his three young children. The bulk of these paternal characters appear in early phases of King’s career, but the prolific writer has continued to create complex and conflicted fathers for the past five decades.
As Father’s Day approaches, let’s celebrate the good, the bad, and the dastardly dads that weave their way through Stephen King’s body of work.
David Dastmalchian as Lester Billings in ‘The Boogeyman’
The Lester Billings we meet in Rob Savage’s adaptation of The Boogeyman is a far cry from the despicable father haunting the pages of Night Shift. Both versions of the character visit a psychiatrist hoping to share the tragic story of their children’s deaths and both versions insist that the child killer is a shadowy monster lurking in darkened closets. While Savage’s version is understandably despondent, King’s original Lester is much more unpleasant. An abusive bigot, he casually mentions assaulting his wife and hints that he would rather his son die than turn out to be what he calls “a sissy.” His story is horrifying, but it’s difficult to feel too much sympathy for the grieving father when he describes sending his young son back to his crib alone to divert the Boogeyman’s attention away from himself. Even worse, an alternative reading of King’s story implies that the Boogeyman is merely a manifestation of Lester’s own rage. He is the true monster and has created the Boogeyman to hide from the reality that he has killed his own children.
David Keith as Andy McGee in ‘Firestarter’
When most Constant Readers think about King’s 1980 novel, their minds naturally turn to Charlie McGee. However, the story is actually a two-hander following the titular pyrokinetic child and her father as they run from a clandestine government agency known as the Shop. Andy McGee met his late wife Vicky during a college experiment in which they were both injected with a serum designed to enhance psychic abilities. Their daughter Charlie was subsequently born with the power to start fires with her mind along with a bevy of other abilities that continue to grow stronger as she ages. Despite Andy’s tendency to use his own psy talents, all he wants for his daughter is a normal life. He’s taught her to suppress her enormous gifts in fear that the Shop will hold her captive and subject her to cruel experiments. Andy is not a perfect father. His lessons have caused Charlie to live in fear of her own body, but this parental control stems from an all-consuming desire to shield his daughter from harm. He sacrifices his own life to save her from a sinister father figure working on behalf of the Shop. Most of the fathers in King’s early work fall victim to their own inadequacies, but Andy stands out as a dedicated dad determined to protect his child.
IMAGE – Robert John Burke as Billy Halleck in Thinner
Billy Halleck is arguably a better father than he is a husband. A highly connected lawyer, Halleck pulls strings to avoid jail time when he kills a Romany woman with his car while receiving a hand job from his wife. The deceased woman’s husband curses the obese Halleck with a single word: thinner, and dooms him to rapidly lose weight until he wastes away to practically nothing. Though never exactly pleasant, Halleck begins to lose his grip on reality as the pounds melt away. He resents his wife, Heidi, and believes that she should be the one to pay the price for the old woman’s death. Halleck seems to genuinely care for his daughter, Linda, though his insistence that his wife has caused all his problems suggests a mean streak that might eventually land on his daughter’s shoulders. Halleck eventually finds a way to escape the curse by passing it to someone else with a pie poisoned with blood. He leaves the treat for his wife to eat and falls asleep believing that all of his problems have been solved. Unfortunately, Linda also consumes a slice and Billy wakes up to learn that he’s now doomed his own daughter to a horrendous fate. Written under King’s dark pseudonym, Thinner is a mean story about a careless and selfish man who destroys his family because he cannot accept responsibility for his own actions.
John Cusack as Clay Riddell in ‘Cell’
The main protagonist of King’s tech apocalypse nightmare is a bit of an anomaly. Instead of an author, he’s a graphic novelist hoping for a lucrative contract that will allow him to reconcile with his estranged wife, Sharon, and young son, Johnny. Clay has just emerged from a meeting in Boston when a phenomenon called the Pulse uses cell phones to transmit a deadly signal turning anyone who hears it into feral murderers. Clay joins a rag tag group of survivors and becomes a father figure of sorts to 12-year-old Jordan and 15-year-old Alice who have both become orphaned in the world-wide massacre. However, Clay never gives up on Johnny and ventures through the post-apocalyptic hellscape determined to find (or find out the fate of) his own son. The novel ends with a bittersweet reunion and the vague promise that Clay might be able to save Johnny from the horrific mind virus. Cell may not be King’s most beloved novel, but by refusing to give up on the chance of saving his son, Clay becomes one of the author’s most inspirational fathers.
David Strathairn as joe St. George in ‘Dolores Claiborne’
On the opposite end of the paternal spectrum is Joe St. George. The disgusting husband of Dolores Claiborne, Joe’s single good quality seems to be a smooth forehead the island woman fell in love with in high school. Now married with three children, Joe spends his days picking up odd jobs around the tiny community of Little Tall Island and his evenings drinking and gambling away the money Dolores has been saving for her children’s college funds. When Dolores learns that Joe has also been molesting his oldest daughter Selena, she decides to take matters into her own hands and create an “accident” that will rid her home of this predatory monster. Under cover of a full eclipse, Dolores lures Joe out into the blackberry brambles behind their ramshackle house and leads him straight to the rotted cover of an old well. Joe falls through the wood and eventually dies at the bottom of the dried up pit screaming for his wife to either pull him out or join him in the deadly darkness. A caricature of abusive evil, Joe is one of King’s worst fathers and deserves to rot away in a hole deep under the ground.
Tim Daly as Mike Anderson in ‘Storm of the Century’
Another resident of Little Tall Island, Mike Anderson proves that the tiny New England community does have fathers who love their children. When a brutal Nor’easter cuts the town off from the larger world, a mysterious stranger named Andre Linoge begins to pick off the island residents in a string of grisly murders and suicides. Despite being jailed by Anderson, serving as a part-time constable, Linoge exerts mental control over the town’s residents and repeats the simple phrase “give me what I want and I’ll go away.” Unfortunately, what this centuries-old sorcerer desires is a child to raise as his own evil successor. Faced with certain death, the adults of Little Tall Island decide to give the monster one of their children and devise a lottery system to choose the unfortunate sacrifice. The lone dissenter, Mike is devastated when his own son Ralphie is chosen to become Linoge’s progeny. Mike does his best to save his son, but tragically finds himself outmatched by a dark wizard and a town full of frightened people desperate to save themselves.
Dean Norris as “Big Jim” Rennie in ‘Under the Dome’
Arguably King’s worst villain, “Big Jim” Rennie is a slick politician and Second Selectman of the small Maine town of Chester’s Mill. This used car salesman and secret drug lord pulls the town’s strings from behind the scenes while maintaining the façade of a god-fearing father. When the whole of Chester’s Mill becomes encased in an indestructible dome, Big Jim seizes the opportunity to murder his enemies and increase his control over the terrified town. He’s so busy orchestrating riots and vilifying his political rivals that he fails to notice his son committing murders of his own. Due to an undiagnosed brain tumor, Junior Rennie careens through town assaulting and killing anyone who angers him or threatens his authority as the town’s most powerful son. Big Jim appoints Junior and his friends to the office of Special Deputy and essentially gives them free reign to terrorize the town under the guise of martial law. Two of King’s most evil characters, Big Jim and his son Junior are terrifying simply because they seem so plausible in a divided political landscape that feeds on fear mongering and deception.
Thomas Jane as David Drayton in ‘The Mist’
Thomas Jane may just want his kids back, but his most famous Stephen King character, David Drayton, has been struggling to care for his young son Billy in the wake of a mysterious catastrophe. When a vicious storm ushers in a dense fog that essentially swallows the town of Bridgton, Maine, several of the town’s residents find themselves trapped together in the local grocery store. As otherworldly monsters emerge from the mist and begin to snatch survivors, David must find a way to protect Billy while convincing his stubborn neighbors that the monsters he’s seen lurking outside the store are real. Even worse, a local zealot named Mrs. Carmody decides that this plague is a punishment from a vengeful God. She amasses a group of terrified followers and demands to take Billy as a sacrifice. David eventually flees the store with his son and a small group of likeminded residents. King’s original David merely keeps driving through an endless sea of mist, dodging monsters and continuing to care for his son while Frank Darabont’s adaptation takes a much darker turn. Hearing the approach of a gigantic creature, David and his unofficial ka-tet decide that a quick death is more appealing than a slow and agonizing demise at the hands (claws) of these Lovecraftian beasts. He shoots Billy and everyone else in the car before running out of bullets and stepping outside to face what he believes will be certain death. Only then does he realize that the sound they heard was the arrival of salvation; army tanks approaching to sweep them away to safety. King’s ending is haunting, but Darabont’s grim conclusion dramatically changes the tone of this bleak horror film and catapults David to the upper echelons of the author’s worst fathers.
Thomas Jane as Wilfred James in ‘1922’
In Zak Hilditch’s adaptation of King’s novella 1922, Thomas Jane brings to life another of King’s flawed fathers. Nebraska farmer Wilfred James claims to want to protect his son Henry’s inheritance, but his desire to murder his wife Arlette stems from petty jealousy that the parcel of land she owns is larger than his own. When the headstrong woman begins making plans to sell off her portion of the property and move to Omaha, Wilfred convinces his teenage son Henry to help him carry out a gruesome murder. The reluctant son joins his father in a plan to slash Arlette’s throat and send her tumbling down a well that subsequently becomes infested with rats. Perhaps predictably, Henry struggles with the weight of this crime and his promising life quickly falls apart. He impregnates his girlfriend and the young lovers set out on a Bonnie and Clyde style crime spree that eventually leads to their own tragic deaths. Wilfred ends up depressed and alone, forced to sell the land he once killed for and move to the city he hates. Haunted by the rats who seem to embody Arlette’s vengeful spirit, Wilfred succumbs to his own guilt while trying to tell the story of a life shattered by his own selfishness.
Anthony LaPaglia as Bob Anderson in ‘A Good Marriage’
No relation to Little Tall’s Mike, Bob Anderson proves to be one of King’s most devious fathers. The central villain of the novella A Good Marriage, Bob seems to have the perfect life: a loving wife named Darcy, two happy adult children, and a small yet successful business selling rare coins to dedicated collectors. While Bob is away on a business trip, Darcy stumbles upon her husband’s dark secret. Searching for batteries in the garage, she finds evidence of her his taste for sadomasochistic torture and confirmation that he is a notorious serial killer known as Beadie. Darcy tries to hide her shock, but Bob confronts her with the truth and convinces his wife to keep his horrific secret to protect their children. She agrees, but secretly begins to plan a way out of her disintegrating marriage. Though Bob is ostensibly a family man and loving parent, he’s spent the past few decades murdering the daughters of other fathers. He claims to be thinking only of his children, but anyone can see that his insistence that Darcy keep his secret stems from a selfish desire to avoid prison or death. King based this character on the horrifying true story of Dennis Rader, a Kansas serial killer who operated under the noses of his picture perfect family for decades. Rader’s small community was devastated by the discovery of his crimes, leaving little doubt of the dark fate awaiting Darcy and her children should Bb’s secret ever come out.
One of King’s most unusual protagonists, Edgar Freemantle moves to a quiet Florida island known as Duma Key in order to recover from a near-fatal accident. After a collision with a massive crane, Edgar discovers that he now has the ability to create reality with his drawings and see far away scenes by envisioning them in his mind and translating them to canvas. Unfortunately his curious power seems to come from a terrifying female force known as Perse lurking just off the coast. Having divorced his wife in the aftermath of the accident, Edgar remains close to his younger daughter Ilse whom he invites to stay with him on Duma Key. With this innocent visit, Edgar inadvertently introduces Isle to the island’s sinister presence and Edgar scrambles to keep her from falling under Perse’s deadly spell. The novel concludes with a father’s desperate quest for revenge. Guided by memories of his beloved Ilse, he ventures to the island’s dark edges to battle the centuries-old sea-witch once and for all. King’s bittersweet ending proves that though time heals all wounds, some losses are forever.
Josh Duhamel as Frank Dunning in ‘11.22.63’
Arguably one of King’s best novels and most romantic stories, 11/22/63 also contains one of the most horrific scenes in his entire body of work. Frank Dunning is a popular butcher who constantly flirts with the ladies of Derry, Maine. Unfortunately, he’s also an angry and controlling drunk and frequently abuses his wife and children. On Halloween night of 1958, Frank tries to force a reunion with his estranged wife and winds up attacking his family with a sledgehammer, gruesomely killing all but young Harry who emerges from the chaos with a mental disability and debilitating limp. Decades later, Harry tells this tragic story to a young teacher named Jake Epping who finds a way to travel back through time and save the family from this horrific fate, giving the audience a ring-side seat to this harrowing massacre. Frank’s fate is a minor part of King’s epic novel, but this Halloween night and the raging father who turns out to be worse than any monster is one few Constant Readers will ever forget.
Ed Harris as Alan Pangborn in ‘Needful Things’
When Sheriff George Bannerman falls victim to a rabid St. Bernard, Castle Rock’s next Chief of Police will undoubtedly have big shoes to fill. Fortunately, the job falls to one of King’s most beloved characters, Alan Pangborn. This husband and father of two first emerges in the pages of The Dark Half when he attempts to help another father, Thad Beaumont, defend his own family against the murderous manifestation of his sinister pseudonym. Pangborn returns in the black comedy Needful Things to square off against devilish salesman Leland Gaunt for the souls of the small New England town. Between the timelines of these two Castle Rock stories, Alan’s wife Annie dies in a car accident along with the couple’s younger son Todd. The grieving father not only struggles with depression, but guilt at failing to recognize the symptoms of a brain tumor that may have caused Annie to crash the car. Alan may protect the town from annihilation, but his true paternal strength lies in a more quiet kind of courage. Devastated by the loss of his wife and son, Alan bravely confronts his own grief and finds a way to heal his broken heart in order to love and support the son he still has left.
Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in ‘The Shining’
King’s most famous father will always be associated with Jack Nicholson’s incredible performance as Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, though King’s own version of the character enjoys a bit more humanity. As the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, Jack drags his family to an isolated resort hidden deep in the Colorado mountains after losing his teaching job due to a violent temper and struggles with sobriety. Jack intends to spend the quiet months finishing a play, but begins to feel resentment for his wife, Wendy, and young son, Danny. When the sinister ghosts haunting the hotel begin to prey on Jack’s weakened psyche, they convince him to kill Wendy and the psychically gifted Danny as the bloody price of admission to the Overlook’s system of power. Having struggled with addiction himself, King has since written that Jack may have been an unconscious manifestation of his own inner demons. He offers Jack a final moment of redemption not found in Kubrick’s adaptation and this near-perfect novel becomes a poignant reminder that hope never dies. Even the worst parents have the power to find their way out of darkness and remember to selflessly love their children.
Dale Midkiff as Louis Creed in ‘Pet Sematary’
Louis Creed’s life seems practically perfect when he moves to the sleepy town of Ludlow, Maine. Having taken a job as a doctor at the local university, the husband and father of two moves his family into a country home that just happens to lie next to a two-lane road frequented by large trucks. When his neighbor Jud introduces him to a charming, but eerie Pet Sematary in the woods behind his house, a sinister force awakens in the forest’s deeper darkness. This innocent hike begins a deadly chain reaction that claims the life of the family’s pet cat and toddler son Gage. Louis tries to harness this dark power to resurrect the happy family now lying shattered at his feet, but winds up plunging his wife and daughter into an inescapable nightmare. King was inspired to write this terrifying novel after watching his own young son run into the road and famously put the finished manuscript in a drawer convinced it was too dark for publication. Pet Sematary is indeed devastating, and may be King’s most terrifying tale, but it’s also one of his best. Watching Louis try to reject the inevitability of loss allows us all to confront the terror of loving children in a world that doesn’t promise to protect them. His descent into hell reminds us to hold our loved ones a little closer and treasure their presence in our lives while we still can.