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| “ | John: You're a bad… man. William: That's right n---er. Bad as you'd want! |
„ |
| ~ William threatening John Coffey. |
| “ | You love your sister? You make any noise, you know what happens? I'm gonna kill her instead of you. You make any noise, I'm gonna kill her you understand? You understand? Shh. | „ |
| ~ William's quote before he rapes and murders Katie and Cora. |
William "Wild Bill" Wharton is the main antagonist of the novel The Green Mile by Stephen King and its 1999 film adaptation.
He is a psychotic rapist and murderer who is determined to cause as much chaos and suffering as he can before he is executed. He is also responsible for killing an entire family, raping two children, and framing John Coffey for it, Thus becoming his archenemy as well as Percy Wetmore's.
He was portrayed by Sam Rockwell, who also played Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Justin Hammer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Billy Bickle in Seven Psychopaths, Eric Knox in Charlie's Angels, Jason Dixon in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Mortimer Ramsey in Dishonored 2, Randy Borland in Law & Order, and Mr. Wolf in The Bad Guys.
Quick Answers
What other roles is Sam Rockwell, the actor who played William Wharton, known for?
What heinous crimes did William 'Wild Bill' Wharton commit in 'The Green Mile'?
Who was falsely accused for the crimes committed by William Wharton in 'The Green Mile'?
How does William 'Wild Bill' Wharton meet his end in 'The Green Mile'?
What kind of character is William 'Wild Bill' Wharton in 'The Green Mile'?
Biography[]
Backstory[]
He committed several misdemeanors as a child, ranging from petty theft to trespassing and small-scale arson. When he was 18, he was once caught molesting a 9-year-old girl.
The Green Mile[]
He is brought into the prison early in the book. At first, he appears to be in a catatonic state, but he was only acting. As soon as he enters the prison, he goes berserk and attacks the guards. Paul Edgecomb, the main protagonist, pulls his gun out but cannot shoot Wild Bill because of his urinary tract infection - Wild Bill had kneed him in the crotch, which was made excruciatingly painful due to the infection. Percy Wetmore takes out his nightstick but is presumably paralyzed in fear and stands by watching Wild Bill attack the other guards. Wild Bill is finally subdued when Brutus "Brutal" Howell, one of the other guards, takes Percy's nightstick and hits Wild Bill over the head with it. Wild Bill soon causes lots of trouble for the guards as well as the prisoners, insulting and abusing them every chance he gets.
Wild Bill holding Percy Wetmore up against his cell.
After John Coffey, the deuteragonist who heals people by sucking the diseases/ailments out of them and regurgitating them, refuses to share his cornbread with Wild Bill, he starts to cause trouble by urinating on Harry Terwilliger's shoes, then jokingly offers to defecate on them later. As punishment for this, the guards blast Wild Bill with a fire hose, put him in a straitjacket, and lock him in the padded room. During this transaction, he becomes angered at being called "Wild Bill" and lectures the guards about the difference between the historical "Wild Bill" Hickok and Billy the Kid (his preferred epithet). He is put in the padded room again after spitting a moon pie (which he had purchased from a janitor for a nickel; how he got the nickel is unknown maybe cause it's the 1930s) all over Brutal.
Later, Percy Wetmore startles Eduard Delacroix, who slips and falls. He says that he was "just playin'" before Wild Bill stretches his arm out of his cell and grabs Percy. He holds Percy by the neck, gropes him by his crotch, and whispers some suggestive comments in his ear before releasing him, saying that he too was "just playin'". These actions frighten Percy so badly that he begins to cry and wets himself, much to Wild Bill's amusement. He seems to be afraid of Wild Bill after this, as before he is locked in a padded cell, he begs the other guards to not put him in Wild Bill's cell.
Before John Coffey is taken to the warden's house to heal the warden's cancerous wife, Wild Bill grabs Coffey's arm. This contact allows Coffey to see inside Wild Bill's heart and it reveals that Wild Bill raped and murdered two young girls, the crime that Coffey was blamed for. To keep Wild Bill from causing more trouble, the guards give him a drugged RC Cola that knocks him out while they smuggle Coffey out of the prison. When Coffey is returned to prison, he regurgitates the disease of Melinda Moores and the bladder infection from Paul into Percy who, through John controlling him and/or willingly out of disgust for Wharton’s actions, then shoots Wild Bill to death before going into a permanent catatonic state. When asked why he did this, John said that "[He] punished them bad men. [He] punished them both."
Personality[]
William Wharton is extremely psychotic, cruel, cunning, loutish, odious, and dangerous. In fact, he is the most insane and deranged criminal ever faced by Edgecomb and his fellows. He hides his bloodthirsty, sadistic, and destructive behavior under a dimwitted and mischievous facade. He does not stand authorities of any kind, so he takes a delightful pleasure in tormenting the other guards, mostly Percy Wetmore, though he also abuses the other inmates for fun or out of boredom.
Wharton is totally remorseless, devoid of any altruistic qualities, and hoped to cause a maximum of troubles before his imminent death, which he successfully did. Judging by his crimes, it's possible that Wharton shows disregard towards women, as one of the three people he killed in a robbery was a pregnant woman, and he raped and killed two little girls before his arrest.
Wharton is also shown to be racist. He frequently insults John Coffey with racial slurs (such as the n-word) in the few conversations he does have with him. Also, shortly before passing out from his laced drink, he states that white and black people should have different electric chairs, referring to the segregation that was commonplace during his time period. This, along with his other qualities, make him even more unpleasant than he is already.
Wharton hates being called "Wild Bill", as he considers Wild Bill Hickok to be a fraud who sat with his back to a door and was killed by a drunk, and instead prefers to be called "Billy The Kid". The first time the guards called him Wild Bill, they could see his true colors, and not the camouflage techniques of a cunning animal.
The only thing that Wharton seems to truly fear is being straightjacketed and put into the padded isolation room that is used as punishment for prisoners who make trouble on the Green Mile. When he was first put inside, he seemed to start to have a fit to the point of slightly vomiting as he was dragged in, implying that Wharton was claustrophobic. However, it's also implied that he hates the feelings of dealing with what the room is meant for: putting a prisoner alone, in the dark, and unable to move, with nothing to do but "reflect" over their behavior. Wharton is put in the room twice for his antics against the guards, and later threatened with being put inside until his execution date by Edgecomb for singing a mocking song about Del's sabotaged execution, which shuts him up immediately.
Quotes[]
| “ | Yee-haw! Whoo! Ain't this the party now! | „ |
| ~ Wharton attacking the guards and strangling Dean after pretending to be drugged. |
| “ | You big f-cker! Where'd you come from? | „ |
| ~ Wharton shortly before being knocked out by Brutal. |
| “ | Hey! What about me, don't you hold that on me, you big dummy n---er! | „ |
| ~ Wharton insulting John Coffey for not sharing his cornbread. |
| “ | Wild Bill: [urinates on Harry while laughing] Yee-haw! Good shot, weren't it? [laughs some more] The look on your face! [continues laughing] Harry: Can you believe this? Son of a bitch pissed on me! Wild Bill: Y'all like that? I'm currently cooking up some turds, to go with it. Nice soft 'uns. Uhhh! Have'em out to y'all tomorrow. |
„ |
| ~ Wharton urinating on Harry and joking about defecating on the guards. |
| “ | You can come in here on you legs, but you'll go out on you backs. Billy the Kid gon' guarantee you that. Come on, f-ckstick! No sneaking up on me this time. We'll go man to man! | „ |
| ~ Wharton threatening the guards, shortly before being sprayed by Harry. |
| “ | Brutal: C'mon Wild Bill, you're gonna walk your walk. Wild Bill: Don't you call me that! Wild Bill Hickok was no range-rider! He was just another bushwackin' John Law! Dumb sonofabitch sat with his back to the door, kilt by a drunk! |
„ |
| ~ Wharton taking great offense to being called "Wild Bill" while being strapped in a straitjacket. |
| “ | All I wanted me was a little cornbread, you motherf-ckers! All I wanted me was a little cornbread! | „ |
| ~ Wharton while trapped in the padded room. |
| “ | I learned my lesson. I'll be good. [smiles faintly] | „ |
| ~ Wharton pretending to promise that he will behave. |
| “ | Wild Bill: [laughing after spitting moon pie in Brutal's face] Ooh, ooooh, ooooh, hoo hoo hoo hoooo! Little Black Sambo! Yo! Yessir, yessir, how do you do! [continues laughing] Brutal: Hope your bags are packed. Wild Bill: My bags are packed! I'm ready to go! Where we goin'? Let's go! |
„ |
| ~ Wharton after spitting a moon pie into Brutal's face, and shortly before being sent to the padded room a second time. |
| “ | Wild Bill: Ain't you sweet? Paul: Wharton! Wild Bill: Soft like a girl... Paul: Let him go! Wild Bill: [while clutching Percy's genitals] I'd rather f-ck your asshole, than your sister's p-ssy, I think. |
„ |
| ~ Wharton groping Percy Wetmore. |
| “ | [laughing] I let him go. I'm just playin'! I let him go! I'd never hurt a hair on his pretty head. Your noodle ain't limp at all, lover-boy. I think you sweet on old Billy the Kid. Oooooh, but smell you! | „ |
| ~ Wharton when Percy wet his pants after he groped him. |
| “ | He's cookin' now! They cookin' him good! They're about done, I reckon! Whooo!! Whoo, whoo, whoo! Yeah! We're gon' have a hoedown! Whoo! Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, yee-haw!! | „ |
| ~ Wharton taking sadistic thrill in Del's sabotaged execution. |
| “ | ♪ Barbecue! Me and you! Stinky pinky, pew pew pew! Weren't Billy, Jilly, Hilly, or Pa; it was a French-fried Cajun named Delacroix! ♪ | „ |
| ~ Wharton singing about Del's death. |
| “ | You love your sister? You make any noise, you know what happens? I'm gonna kill her instead of you. [turns to the other sister] You make any noise, I'm gonna kill her. You understand? [turns back to the first sister] You understand? Shh... | „ |
| ~ Wharton before raping and murdering Katie and Cora Detterick. |
| “ | Boy, what you lookin' at? What you lookin' at, you limp noodle? You wanna kiss my ass? You wanna suck my dick? | „ |
| ~ Wharton's last words, before being shot in the stomach by a psychologically broken Percy Wetmore. |
Notable Victims[]
- Katie and Cora Detterick - Stabbed to death.
Book only:[]
- Bowser - Lured with sausages before twisting his neck.
Trivia[]
- Wharton is compared by Paul Edgecomb with Tommy Udo, the main antagonist of the movie Kiss of Death.
- While both versions of Wharton are outright evil, only his film counterpart is Pure Evil as his novel counterpart cannot qualify due to being outclassed in heinousness by other villains in the Stephen King Multiverse.
- Wharton was 19 years old in the book.
- Sam Rockwell admitted he was uncomfortable with the scene where he threatened the two girls, considering he made the child actors (who enjoyed being around him offscreen) cry.
- It is possible that he is bisexual because he seems to be sexually aroused when groping Wetmore. When he grabs Percy, he gropes him by his groin and whispers disturbing sexual words into Percy's ear. This also foreshadows his true nature and that he was the one responsible for raping and murdering Katie and Cora Detterick.
External Links[]
- William Wharton (movie version only) on the Pure Evil Wiki
- William Wharton (novel version only) on the Villainous Benchmark Wiki
- William Wharton on the Stephen King Wiki
