Stephen King

Stephen King Headshot

Writer

Birth Date: September 21, 1947

Age: 77 years old

Birth Place: Portland, Maine

Children: Joe Hill

With sales of over 300 million copies of more than 70 books, plus dozens of stories adapted for film and television, Stephen King has been the dominant American storyteller for over 25 years. While King wrote in a wide variety of genres, from the coming-of-age short story The Body (1982) to the psychological thriller Misery (1987), King was most closely associated with horror and fantasy stories with supernatural elements. A great storyteller with an eye for detail and an accessible narrative tone, King always grounded his fantastic elements in recognizable environments, while his demons often highlighted the rocky emotional dynamics of families and the ravages of dysfunction and addiction.

Cultural critic Robin Wood once concluded that "The horrors of the King world are the horrors of our culture writ large, made visible and inescapable." With this curious but huge appeal, the name Stephen King became a powerful brand that sold books and film tickets, even though his name attachment to a film was hardly a guarantee of a good movie. Among the best King-based feature films were Brian De Palma's "Carrie" (1976), David Cronenberg's "The Dead Zone" (1983), Rob Reiner's "Stand by Me" (1986), Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (1980), which took more liberties than King was happy with, and Frank Darabont's "The Shawshank Redemption" (1995).

The prolific writer's output diminished somewhat following serious injuries he sustained in a 1999 roadside accident, but just as throughout his career, new novels like Under the Dome (2009), speculative alt-history 11/22/63 (2011) and End of Watch (2016) were highly anticipated, topped the bestseller lists, and usually found its way to the screen as a feature film or television miniseries that drew consistently strong audiences.

King was born in Portland, ME on Sept. 21, 1947, and spent a peripatetic youth living with different family members in Indiana, Connecticut, and eventually back in Maine, where he graduated from Lisbon Falls High School in 1966. While working towards earning his degree in English at the University of Maine, King wrote for the college newspaper and appeared onstage with the school's dramatic society. He also began his professional writing career in 1966 with his first short story sale to Startling Mysteries magazine. King continued to generate a side income with short stories, and expanded into novels while he worked days as an English teacher at a local public school. King's novel Carrie, about an outcast teen with telekinetic powers, was picked up by Doubleday & Co., and kicked off a prolific decade that established King as a bestselling author. Hot on the heels of Carrie's 1974 publication and its paperback sales in excess of one million copies that first year, the author turned out novels Salem's Lot in 1975, The Shining in 1977, the post-apocalyptic classic The Stand in 1978, and The Dead Zone in 1979.

King's first published novel became his first screen adaptation, Brian De Palma's "Carrie" (1976), starring Sissy Spacek. The major financial success was also well-received by critics and proved that King's literary appeal had huge potential among moviegoers as well. King's next adaptation, however, was a small screen version of "Salem's Lot" (CBS, 1979), the vampire classic, directed by Tobe Hooper. The following year, Stanley Kubrick directed one of the more enduring King adaptations, "The Shining" (1980), starring Jack Nicholson as a novelist and off-season caretaker of an isolated mountain resort who slowly goes insane and tries to murder his family. At the time of the film's release, horror fans were dissatisfied by its slow pacing and paucity of scares, while King fans objected to the omissions and revisions from the source novel. Over time, however, the film's standing rose in the world of psychological horror films and it was deemed a classic. In 1982, King debuted as a screenwriter with the horror anthology "Creepshow" (1982), good gory fun in the vein of horror comics of the 1950s.

Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg made his U.S. directing debut with an adaptation of King's chilling "The Dead Zone" (1983), starring Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen; the same year, Lewis Teague directed an outstanding adaptation of King's tale of a rabid dog on the loose, "Cujo" (1983). King remained one of the highest-profile figures in film that decade with the release of "Christine" (1983), the "Children of the Corn" (1984) franchise, "Firestarter" (1984), and "Stephen King's Cat's Eye" (1985), all based on original written works. In 1985, after several years of releasing novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, King admitted he was the author of such books as Roadwork, Running Man, and Thinner, and that he had assumed a second identity, not only to prevent the prolific writer from flooding the market, but also as an experiment to see whether it was his name or his work which was behind his massive numbers of book sales. The experiment was inconclusive. King's media domination continued with his contribution of several teleplays to George Romero's TV horror anthology "Tales From the Darkside" (syndicated, 1986) and his directorial debut, "Maximum Overdrive" (1986), an ill-conceived expansion of his short story, Trucks which was even dismissed by its own writer-director as a "moron movie."

The same year, Rob Reiner increased his clout as a filmmaker when he directed a savvy adaptation of King's semi-autobiographical novella The Body called "Stand by Me" (1986), a coming-of-age ensemble about a group of friends (River Phoenix, Jerry O'Connell, Wil Wheaton and Corey Feldman) who embark on a hike to see a dead body. Columbia Pictures played down King's name in the advertising for the film, lest the public mistake it for a horror film, but Reiner paid King a special tribute by naming his production company "Castle Rock" in honor of the fictional Maine setting for much of King's fiction. "Stand by Me" was among the most critically acclaimed King-based feature film, earning Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, and its author called it one of the best screen adaptations of his work. The following year, Richard Bachman earned his first screen credit for "Running Man" (1987) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, while it's real author, King, was the focus of a family intervention that led to an end to King's worsening problems with drugs and alcohol. The husband and father of three became sober and embarked on a new phase of his career.

After one of King's strongest novels Pet Sematary (1983) was betrayed by the small-minded but commercially successful 1989 feature which King scripted, Rob Reiner found sophomore success with King's 1987 novel "Misery" (1990). Reiner's taut and brilliant film version netted newcomer Kathy Bates a Best Actress Oscar for starring as the psychotic fan of a best-selling author who holds him hostage in her home. King went on to have a steady run of television successes, beginning with the chilling, socially relevant miniseries "Stephen King's 'It'" (ABC, 1990) that truly frightened clown-hating viewers. He next wrote teleplays for "Sometimes They Come Back" (CBS, 1991) and "Stephen King's Golden Years" (CBS, 1991), a smart and fast-paced summer sci-fi series. Proving the power of King's name attraction, "Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man" (1992) was popular regardless of the fact that it bore no relation to King's original story. Meanwhile King wrote the actual screenplay for "Stephen King's Sleepwalkers" (1992), an amiable "moron movie" that evoked '50s teen exploitation flicks, and the author released best-selling books almost every year throughout the 1990s.

A few low-profile film adaptations later, King scored with the miniseries "Stephen King's The Stand" (ABC, 1994), penning a compelling screenplay and executive producing a ratings landmark which helped ABC win sweeps and garnered King an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Miniseries. Boasting superior production values and outstanding performances from an excellent ensemble, this was "The Stand" that fans had been waiting for over a decade. Meanwhile on the big screen, Frank Darabont directed an adaptation of a 1982 King short story called "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994). The prison drama was a favorite nominee around awards season, earning recognition for the director as well as for star Morgan Freeman. In 1995, King's psychological thriller "Dolores Claiborne" - the No. 1 fiction bestseller of 1992 - was made into a film starring Kathy Bates as an unstable housemaid suspected of dual murders. That same year, his 1990 novella "Langoliers" was the basis of the miniseries of the same name for ABC. After landing in the No. 3 slot of 1996 fiction bestsellers with Desperation, King scripted and executive produced a miniseries version of "The Shining" (1997) for ABC, helmed by Mick Garris. The results, while not a ratings blockbuster, earned an Emmy nomination for Best Miniseries, while better serving the original material than the feature film, which King had never been happy with.

King scripted a 1998 episode of the sci-fi staple "The X Files" (Fox, 1993-2002), and his 1998 book Bag of Bones was the No. 3 bestseller of the year. But the following summer, King's writing output stalled when the author was hit by car while walking alongside of the road in his hometown. He spent three weeks in the hospital and considerable time afterwards recovering from broken leg bones, a broken hip, and a collapsed lung. Meanwhile, Frank Darabont brought another King prison drama, "The Green Mile" (1999), to the big screen which resulted in one of the biggest box office successes of any King adaptation. The blockbuster and Academy Award nominee for Best Picture starred Tom Hanks as a Depression-era prison guard who encounters an unusual inmate with supernatural powers. "The Rage: Carrie 2" (1999) was a box office disappointment, though the telekinetic teen was brought back to life again in the 2002 miniseries "Carrie" (NBC, 2002), which was meant to serve as pilot for a weekly series, but poor ratings ended the project. The same year, however, King's "The Dead Zone" was used as the basis for the science fiction series of the same name (USA Network, 2002-07), starring Anthony Michael Hall as the coma survivor with psychic powers.

Still suffering from the repercussions of his accident, King's punctured lung led to a bout of pneumonia, while his injured hip and leg made sitting for long periods of time at a desk painful. In 2002, he announced that due to his physical condition, he was going to retire from writing. Luckily for his millions of fans he did not keep his promise, but the notoriously prolific writer's output did decrease significantly, with only three novels and a few short story collections and anthologies published over the remainder of the decade. The next major King-based screen success was the paranoid thriller "Secret Window" (2004) starring Johnny Depp in the story of an author haunted by accusations of plagiarism. In an unusual case of King adapting another's work, he developed and wrote nine episodes of the miniseries "Kingdom Hospital" (2004) for ABC, based on the Danish miniseries "Riget" from Lars von Trier. The following year, each of King's two grown sons had their first works published: Owen King's We're All in This Together: A Novella and Stories, and the short story anthology 20th Century Ghosts from son Joseph Hillstrom King, who used the pen name Joe Hill. Hill's true identity was uncovered in 2007, by which time he had already proven himself as a writer separate from his family name.

TNT brought dad Stephen King's work back to primetime with the anthology series "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" (TNT, 2006) based on eight short stories from the author's 1993 short story collection. King's 1999 short story about a paranormal investigator trapped in evil hotel room, "1408" (2007), was a certified blockbuster in theaters, while Frank Darabont's "The Mist" (2007) was a moderate ensemble success. In 2009, King published the longest novel of his career, Under the Dome, which immediately entered the New York Times bestseller list, while at the same time, the author continued to contribute pop culture editorials to Entertainment Weekly magazine. King's next novel, 11/22/63 (2011), was a speculative retelling of the assassination attempt on President John F. Kennedy. The pulp mysteryJoyland (2013) and a sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep (2013), followed before he began a trilogy of novels about a hard-boiled detective, Bill Hodges: Mr. Mercedes (2014), Finders Keepers (2015) and End of Watch (2016). During this period, Kimberley Peirce's revision of "Carrie" (2013), psychological thriller "A Good Marriage" (2014), horror drama "Mercy" (2014) and science fiction drama "Cell" (2016) kept King's name on marquees, while a TV adaptation of "Under the Dome" (CBS 2013-15) ran for three seasons, along with a television movie based on "11/22/63" (Hulu 2016) and a series extending the story of "The Mist" (Spike 2017- ).

Credits

The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs: Nightmareathon

Screenwriter
Show
2024

The Archbishop Interviews

Guest
Show
2022

CBS Saturday Morning

Guest
Show
2021

ChapelwaiteStream

Creator
Series
2021
60%

Lisey's StoryStream

Creator
Miniseries
2021
53%

Lisey's StoryStream

Executive Producer
Miniseries
2021
53%

Lisey's StoryStream

Writer
Miniseries
2021
53%

The Drew Barrymore ShowStream

Guest
Talk
2020

DuncanvilleStream

Guest Voice
Himself
Series
2020

The Outsider: Extras

Actor
Show
2019

It Chapter TwoStream

Actor
Shopkeeper
Movie
2019
62%

Eli Roth's History of HorrorStream

Actor
Series
2018

Eli Roth's History of HorrorStream

Guest
Series
2018

Castle RockStream

Executive Producer
Series
2018
88%

101 Seconds

Actor
Movie
2018

I Am the Doorway

Writer (Story)
Movie
2018

Mr. MercedesStream

Writer
Series
2017
91%

Mr. Mercedes

Executive Producer
Show
2017

The MistStream

Writer
Series
2017
60%

The MistStream

Writer (Story)
Series
2017
60%

The Mist: Extras

Actor
Show
2017

The Dark TowerStream

Producer
Movie
2017
15%

11.22.63Stream

Executive Producer
Series
2016
83%

CellStream

Screenwriter
Movie
2016
11%

The Late Show With Stephen ColbertStream

Guest
Talk
2015

Under the Dome: Inside Chester's Mill

Executive Producer
Show
2014

Late Night With Seth MeyersStream

Guest
Talk
2014

A Good Marriage

Screenwriter
Movie
2014

Under the DomeStream

Actor
Series
2013
68%

Under the DomeStream

Director
Series
2013
68%

Under the DomeStream

Executive Producer
Series
2013
68%

Under the DomeStream

Guest Star
Series
2013
68%

Under the DomeStream

Writer
Series
2013
68%

Finding Your RootsStream

Guest
Reality
2012

CBS This Morning

Guest
Show
2012

Stuck in Love

Voice
Stephen King
Movie
2012

Q With Jian Ghomeshi

Guest
Show
2011

Sons of AnarchyStream

Guest Star
Series
2008
87%

Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero

Actor
Movie
2008

Mark Lawson Talks to...

Guest
Show
2007

Stephen King's Desperation

Executive Producer
Movie
2006

Stephen King's Desperation

Writer
Movie
2006

The Colbert Report

Guest
Talk
2005

The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

Guest
Talk
2005

Kingdom Hospital

Executive Producer
Series
2004

Kingdom Hospital

Guest Star
Series
2004

Kingdom Hospital

Writer
Series
2004

Secret WindowStream

Writer (Book)
Movie
2004
45%

Riding the Bullet

Executive Producer
Movie
2004

Riding the Bullet

Writer (Novel)
Movie
2004

Dreamcatcher

Writer (Novel)
Movie
2003

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer

Executive Producer
Movie
2003

Book at Bedtime

Writer
Show
2002

HARDtalk

Guest
Show
2002

Rose RedStream

Executive Producer
Miniseries
2002
42%

Rose RedStream

Writer
Miniseries
2002
42%

Rose Red

Executive Producer
Movie
2002

Rose Red

Writer
Movie
2002

My Bounty Hunter

Actor
Special Agent Freeze
Movie
2001

Hearts in Atlantis

Writer (Novel)
Movie
2001

Storm of the CenturyStream

Executive Producer
Miniseries
1999
83%

Storm of the CenturyStream

Writer
Miniseries
1999
83%

The Daily Show With Jon StewartStream

Guest
Talk
1999

The Green MileStream

Writer (Novel)
Movie
1999
79%

Apt Pupil

Writer
Movie
1998

The View

Guest
Talk
1997

The Shining

Executive Producer
Miniseries
1997

ThinnerStream

Actor
Dr. Bangor
Movie
1996
19%

The LangoliersStream

Actor
Miniseries
1995

The Outer LimitsStream

Writer
Series
1995

Dolores ClaiborneStream

Writer (Book)
Movie
1995
85%

The StandStream

Executive Producer
Miniseries
1994
70%

The StandStream

Writer
Miniseries
1994
70%

Stephen Kings The Stand - Das letzte Gefecht (1+2)

Writer
Movie
1994

Stephen Kings The Stand - Das letzte Gefecht (3+4)

Writer
Movie
1994

FrasierStream

Guest Voice
Brian
Series
1993
95%

The X-FilesStream

Writer
Series
1993
74%

Late Show With David Letterman

Guest
Talk
1993

The Dark HalfStream

Writer (Novel)
Movie
1993
62%

SleepwalkersStream

Actor
Cemetery Caretaker
Movie
1992
29%

SleepwalkersStream

Writer
Movie
1992
29%

Tales From the Darkside: The Movie

Writer (Story)
Movie
1990

IT

Writer (Novel)
Movie
1990

The SimpsonsStream

Guest Voice
Himself
Series
1989
85%

Pet SemataryStream

Screenwriter
Movie
1989
54%

Stand By MeStream

Writer
Movie
1986
92%

Maximum OverdriveStream

Director
Movie
1986
15%

Maximum OverdriveStream

Screenwriter
Movie
1986
15%

Silver BulletStream

Screenwriter
Movie
1985
41%

Cat's Eye

Screenwriter
Movie
1985

Children of the CornStream

Writer
Movie
1984
39%

The Dead ZoneStream

Writer (Novel)
Movie
1983
89%

CujoStream

Writer
Movie
1983
59%

CreepshowStream

Actor
Jordy Verrill (segment "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill")
Movie
1982
65%

CreepshowStream

Screenwriter
Movie
1982
65%

The ShiningStream

Writer (Novel)
Movie
1980
83%

CBS News Sunday Morning

Guest
News
1979

CarrieStream

Writer (Novel)
Movie
1976
93%

Good Morning America

Guest
News
1975

The Dick Cavett ShowStream

Guest
Talk
1968

Today

Actor
News
1952

Today

Guest
News
1952

News aboutStephen King

Stephen King & Mike Flanagan

The Stephen King Stories Only Mike Flanagan Should Adapt

Best Stephen King Shows

The Best Stephen King TV Shows Ever, Ranked

Mike Flanagan and Sissy Spacek as Carrie

Mike Flanagan Adapting Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’ to TV: Who Will Star?

Lance Kerwin in 'Salem's Lot'

How Will the ‘Salem’s Lot’ Remake Compare to the Original?

Stephen King and the Cast of Evil

Save ‘Evil’! Stephen King Reveals He’s a Big Fan Amid Campaign to Renew Canceled Show

Stephen King and Richard Gadd

Stephen King Gives High Praise to ‘Baby Reindeer’ & Compares it to ‘Misery’

Bill Skarsgård in IT Chapter 2

HBO Max Orders ‘IT’ Prequel To Series

The Dark Tower series adaptation

Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’ Series in the Works From ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ Team

Best Horror Documentaries

10 Best Horror Documentaries for Halloween

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Tales from the Crypt

Fear of the Dark: A Brief History of ’90s TV Horror

Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise in It Chapter 2

‘It’ Prequel Series In Works At HBO Max

'Chapelwaite' Star Adrien Brody
Preview

‘Chapelwaite’ Star Adrien Brody Introduces Stephen King’s New Horror Series

Odessa Young Alexander Skarsgård The Stand Finale Frannie Flagg
Spoiler Alert

‘The Stand’ Boss on the Different Versions of Randall Flagg, Stephen King’s Ending & More

Odessa Young as Frannie in The Stand
Exclusive

‘The Stand’ Finale Sneak Peek: Frannie Meets Her Daughter (VIDEO)

Owen Teague Odessa Young The Stand Premiere Harold Frannie
Review

Roush Review: Is ‘The Stand’ the Right Parable for These Times?

‘The Stand’: What to Know About the Star-Studded Stephen King Series

The Stand Jovan Adepo Heather Graham Larry Rita
Preview

‘The Stand’ Cast Previews Stephen King’s Pandemic Disaster

Mr. Mercedes Peacock

‘Mr. Mercedes’: Stephen King Series Heads to Streaming on Peacock (VIDEO)

fb24d394a336be859dd8c8edcb18684c5b9dff531f0f473964c9a80e46ab88a2581e893da34ad7d68ed92e5c39ce8f4e

Worth Watching: Expanding a Jane Austen ‘Masterpiece,’ Stephen King’s ‘Outsider,’ ‘Ray Donovan’ Fixes His Own Problems

the-outsider-hbo-2
Review

Roush Review: HBO’s ‘The Outsider’ Is Deluxe Stephen King

the stand cast gallery cover

‘The Stand’: Meet the Cast of Stephen King’s CBS All Access Series (PHOTOS)

castle rock s2 trailer 1

Annie Wilkes & More Stephen King Callbacks in Full ‘Castle Rock’ Season 2 Trailer (VIDEO)

Untitled design - 2019-09-27T162648.794

5 Stephen King Shows You Need to Watch Right Now (PHOTOS)

the stand cast cover new

CBS All Access Casts Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgard & More in ‘The Stand’

112562_5371b

CBS All Access at TCA: Stephen King’s ‘Stand’ Series, ‘Good Fight’ & ‘Twilight Zone’ Premiere Dates

The Queen

Stephen King Bonanza With ‘Mr. Mercedes,’ ‘Castle Rock,’ Plus ‘Yellowstone’ & ‘Queen Sugar’ Finales

Castle Rock - Henry Deaver (Andre Holland)
Preview

‘Castle Rock’ EP Says Hulu Series ‘Isn’t Just for Die-Hard Stephen King Superfans’

Castle Rock - Sissy Spacek

Hulu’s Stephen King Series ‘Castle Rock’ Gets Premiere Date, New Teaser

castle-rock-teaser-hulu

‘Castle Rock’: Watch the Super Bowl Spot for Hulu’s Stephen King-Inspired Series (VIDEO)

UndertheDome_StephenKing

15 Good, Great and God-Awful Stephen King TV Adaptations

CASTLE ROCK[4]

Hulu Announces More Details About J.J. Abrams’ and Stephen King’s ‘Castle Rock’

11-22-63-stephen-king-easter-eggs

Easter Egg Hunt: Revealing ‘11.22.63’’s Many Stephen King Homages (VIDEO)

Lili Taylor and Connor Jessup in American Crime

Ask Matt: Emmy Gripes (‘American Crime’, ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’, ‘Blacklist’), ‘The Night Of’, Olympics and More

Constance Towers, James Franco

‘General Hospital’ Villains Constance Towers and James Franco Team Up on Hulu’s JFK Drama ‘11.22.63’

tbd

‘11.22.63’: Here’s What Hulu’s Upcoming Stephen King Adaptation Will Look Like

Clooney-Schumer-King-Johansson

Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Premiere Week Guests Include George Clooney, Amy Schumer, Stephen King and ScarJo