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“ | You eat when we say you eat! You shit when we say you shit, and you piss when we say you piss! You got that, you maggot-dicked motherfucker?! | „ |
~ Hadley abusing a new inmate. |
Captain Byron Hadley is the secondary antagonist of the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and its 1994 film adaptation The Shawshank Redemption. He is a corrupt top prison guard who serves as Warden Norton's second-in-command.
He was portrayed 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, Bloodwolf in Puss in Boots, Savage Opress in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Hades in God of War, Lex Luthor in the DC Animated Universe, Grune in Thundercats, Mr. Sinister in Wolverine and the X-Men, the Evil Entity in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Rahzar in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok, Blackhand in Warcraft, Edgar Volgud in Atlantis: Milo's Return, General McGuffin in Wander Over Yonder, Kojak in Recess: School's Out, Kurt Caldwell in Dexter: New Blood, and Taskmaster in Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble.
Personality
Captain Hadley is a cruel, loutish, corrupt, and sadistic man who frequently abuses his authority by brutally beating inmates and sometimes killing them, often for petty reasons. This also includes beating up a new inmate that is addressed by the other inmates as "Fat-ass" for not keeping his mouth shut.
The next day, Fat-ass dies from the injuries that Hadley inflicted, showing he absolutely does not care about the prisoners. This make him feared by the inmates. He is also a complainer, by inheriting a lot of money of his dead's brother and complaining about the payments on it. Unsympathetic and corrupt, he gets angry pretty easily with the inmates, whatever the minor things they do and shows many signs of enjoying making them suffer.
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 helps Andy rid of Bogs although it was purely for selfish reasons. He has a wife and children, however, it is unknown if he genuinely loves them or if he is abusive toward them, though his fury upon Andy asking him if his wife is faithful to him may suggest that he does care for them. However, despite briefly becoming softer towards Andy, he starts abusing him again once he starts stirring up trouble.
Skills and Abilities
Hadley is physically powerful. His signature weapon is the baton, which he uses to brutal effect when beating prisoners. He is also proficient with the M-14 rifle, which he uses to murder a prisoner who possessed important information concerning Andy.
Biography
He brutally beats and cripples convicted rapist Bogs Diamond after finding out that the latter and his gang, The Sisters, had been terrorizing Andy by raping and beating him up. This was done only because Andy was too useful for him and later on Norton himself.
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 (and possibly murder) from all the prisoners he abused and killed for years.
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Trivia
- In the novella, Byron Hadley is a minor character who retires a few years after receiving financial help from Andy and narrowly surviving a heart attack. He also never beats up Bogs Diamond. He is also implied to be an abusive and controlling husband during his conversation with Andy, and he also never meets Samuel Norton.
- Clancy Brown was given the opportunity to speak with former guards by the production's liaison officer, but declined, believing it would not be a good thing to say that his brutal character was in any way inspired by Ohio state correctional officers.
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