10 Surprising Facts About Stephen King, 76

He hated the movie version of The Shining.​

King has cited many reasons for his disappointment in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation of his 1977 novel, including the portrayal of Jack’s wife, Wendy. In the book, she is strong and independent, King said, but in the movie, where she’s played by Shelley Duvall, she came off as weak and weepy. King wanted Christopher Reeve to play Jack (Superman! can you imagine?), but Kubrick went with Jack Nicholson. “I love Kubrick as a filmmaker, but I just felt that he didn’t have the chops for this particular thing,” he told The New York Times in 2020, noting that he preferred the 1997 TV miniseries of The Shining, which he scripted himself. ​​​

He pops up in screen adaptations of his books.​

Many of his works have been transformed into movies or TV series, and you can sometimes spot the King of horror himself in cameos. He played Teddy Weizak in a few episodes of the 1994 miniseries The Stand; a diner patron in an episode of Mr. Mercedes (2017); and a cemetery caretaker in the film Sleepwalkers (1992).​​​

Castle Rock was inspired by literature. ​

King’s famous fictional town of Castle Rock, which first appeared in his 1979 novel The Dead Zone, came from Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s classic 1954 book about boys stranded on an island who descend into violence without the strictures of civilization. In Golding’s novel, the Castle Rock is a narrow ledge that the character Ralph describes as “a rotten place.”​​​

He’s had his own personal demons and trauma. ​

King battled an alcohol abuse problem for years (though he’s been sober for decades). In 1999, King nearly died when he was hit by a Dodge van while walking along a road near his home in North Lovell, Maine. His recovery required multiple surgeries, lengthy rehab and, he’s noted often, excruciating pain. ​​​

He totally rocks. And loves baseball.​

King loves rock music, which he listens to while he writes. He played guitar in a charity band known as the Rock Bottom Remainders with authors including Amy Tan, Dave Barry and Mitch Albom. He also loves baseball — particularly the Red Sox; some characters in his books are Red Sox fans or even players. ​​​

He has a sense of humor.​

King can be wryly funny, including on X (formerly Twitter), where he’s followed by some 7.1 million fans — although his humor is a bit dad-jokey. Think: “The difference between an onion and a bagpipe: nobody cries when you chop up a bagpipe,” and “I saw toast in a cage at the zoo. The sign said bred in captivity.” He and Tabitha’s large Victorian house in Bangor, Maine, is fronted with a wrought iron fence featuring bats, spiders, a dragon and cobwebs — making it a favorite pilgrimage stop for King fans paying homage to the author on his home turf.​