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| “ | You eat when we say you eat, you s--t when we say you s--t, and you p--s when we say you p--s! You got that, you maggot-d--ked motherf--ker!? | „ |
| ~ Hadley abusing a new inmate. |
Captain Byron Hadley (simply known as Byron Hadley) is the secondary antagonist of the 1982 Stephen King book Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and its 1994 adaptation The Shawshank Redemption. He is the top prison guard who serves as Warden Norton's second-in-command.
He was played by Clancy Brown, who also played Viking Lofgren in the 1983 film Bad Boys, the Kurgan in the 1986 film Highlander, Mr. Krabs in Spongebob Squarepants, Undertow in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Dr. Neo Cortex and Uka Uka in Crash Bandicoot, Savage Opress in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Hades in God of War, and Lex Luthor in the DC Animated Universe.
Biography
Captain Hadley is a very cruel and sadistic man who frequently abuses his authority by brutally beating inmates and sometimes killing them. This also includes beating up a new inmate that is addressed by the other inmates as "Fat-ass." The next day, Fat-ass dies from the blows that Hadley gave him for not keeping his mouth shut.
Despite Hadley's cruelty, he seemingly softens up to Andy Dufresne after the latter helped him with his money he inherited from his estranged brother (by giving the $35,000 in full, tax free, to his wife). He beats up Bogs Diamond (the head of "The Sisters" prison gang) after finding out that the latter had been raping and beating up Andy since Andy is too useful for him and Norton in dealing with financial matters.
Later on, Warden Norton orders him to murder Tommy in order to keep him from proving Andy innocent. He is then arrested for this after Andy escapes with the ledger containing all the info about the corruption and the murder(s) that Hadley committed, avenging the deaths of all prisoners he killed, such as Fat Ass and Tommy. According to Red, it was rumored that Hadley had cried like a little girl once he was arrested, likely because he will be incarcerated in the same prison he guarded and will have to endure retaliation from all the prisoners he bullied and abused for years.
Trivia
- In the book, Hadley is a minor character whom retires a few years after receiving financial help from Andy and narrowly surviving a heart attack. He also never beats up Bogs. He is also implied to be an abusive and controlling husband during his conversation with Andy, and he also never meets Norton.
- Clancy Brown studied real-life prison guards as preparation for the role because he did not want to base his character on any one person.
