"Red Rum!"

It's amazing to me that Danny Lloyd has not a single credit to his name since his unforgettable turn as Danny Torrance in "The Shining". When filming the role, Danny was only a little older than five years old. When I was five I was...watching Sesame Street or eating sand in the playground. Danny was playing a chilling, possessed little boy opposite one of the great actors of all time, and my favorite actor, Jack Nicholson. He was under the direction of Stanley Kubrick, a man many think is the greatest director to walk the Earth.

Danny played the role with such sophistication. I mean, could a five year-old even understand the plot, the meaning, the significance that film carries? It must have been traumatic, really. A role far beyond his years. But it worked. It worked oh, so well. While watching The Shining (between underpants changes), my friend, who was watching the film with me, said that Danny gave one of the best performances he had ever seen. Stretch? Not totally.

He had the perfect blend of childish innocence and disturbing loss of mind. Freaky. One scene, he was hearing Jack and Wendy talking about him (through the Shine; see the movie) and he had this tortured expression. So sad and disappointed in himself for being so screwed up. He sat on the foot of his bed, looking into the camera, his lip quivering in sorrow. Then in, practically, the next scene, he was running around the bedroom screaming in that robotic, faraway voice, "Red Rum! Red Rum!", smearing the word on the walls with lipstick, driving poor Shelley Duvall to madness.

The voice. Whoa. The voice he would give to Tony, the imaginary character that lives in his mouth, was startling. When he was possessed. Boy, that voice stayed in your head for awhile. Even though it's been nearly months since I saw the film, I can remember that voice meticulously. You know what that is? That is the definition of unforgettable. Literally.

And it's that simple. Danny Lloyd is unforgettable in the way he plays a role so beyond his years, it's scary.

This essay is for my buddy Michael's Rug Rats Blog-A-Thon, which I think is a great idea. See Michael's fun blog...
here.