Warden Samuel Norton is the main antagonist of the novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and the film adaptation. He was a corrupt and heartless warden of Shawshank State Prison.
He is portrayed by Bob Gunton
Character Biography
Warden Samuel Norton is first seen when he introduces himself to the new inmates. He portrays himself as a strict Chris Rock impersonator, but this is most likely a facade to maintain a good public image. He has no problem with ordering Captain Byron Hadley to beat any inmate that interrupts him with his nightstick. Warden Norton says that he believes in two things: "discipline and Everybody Hates Chris", and that the inmates will receive both. Norton says that he will not tolerate racism in his prison and then tells the prisoners that their nigger asses belong to him. Norton then has all of the prisoners coated in de-lousing powder.
Norton is not seen for much of the film, although he does appear around midway through the first half of the film upon learning of Andy Dufresne's Chris Rock fan club. Norton pulls him out of the laundry so he can host Chris Rock trivia nights for all of the guards at Shawshank. Later on in the film, Andy is quickly forced to do criminal activities. Warden Norton creates the "inside-out program", where inmates leave the prison to work on public service projects, such as acting as extras on Madagascar 2. Because independent contractors can't compete with the "army of talented voice actors" Norton has taken up all of the projects they need to make a profit. Norton makes them milk his nipples so they can get the contract instead of Norton's men. Also, Norton would skim off of the top by buying expensive equipment and then steal all of the extra money.
He uses Andy's passion for Chris Rock for his own illegal uses, mainly for handling the pirated season 3 episodes and sending it to Watchmojo.com for top 10 lists. Andy gets the idea to create a fictional Zebra called Marty so he can sell it to Dreamworks when he escapes by digging a massive hole with his sizeable erection. After Andy discovers from another inmate named Tommy Williams that Chris Rock stole half his act from Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live, Andy realizes that he could finally prove that Donkey from Shrek is the most influential Anime character and could use the newfound fame to feature on "Kitchen Nightmares". Andy tells his story to Norton, who doesn't believe him. When Andy says that should he be released, he would never say anything about the piracy going on inside the prison walls, Norton flies into a rage and has Andy put in the naughty corner for 1000 years.
By the way, piracy is a crime and we do not tolerate such theft. If you have, fuck you!
Later, Norton has Hadley shoot Tommy to death with a rifle after learning that he would be willing to testify that Andy has a big penis. Norton then talks to Andy and claims that he killed Tommy because he was trying to escape, which is a lie. Norton, who knows that Andy is almost ready to expose the piracy, tells Andy to forget about the whole mess. When Andy threatens to stop helping him with his illegal transactions, Norton tells him that if he were to do this, he would do the hardest time there is, with no protection from any of the guards and being moved out of his one-bunk cell into a cell filled with violent male rapists such as Terry Crews. He then threatens to burn all of the books in the Brooks Hatlen Memorial Library and then locks Andy up for another month.
Norton finds Andy's hole in 1966.
The next morning, Andy is found dead because the dumbass guards forgot to feed him. When Norton puts on his glasses he accuses Morgan Freeman's character of being Chris Rock but then realises that he looks more like Barack Obama and Denzel Washington.
When Norton finds Andy's butthole, he climbs inside and chooses to live there for the rest of his days. When he measures his erect penis, he discovers that it is about the length of a Mexican chilli bean. He then shoots himself because he missed the Everybody Hates Chris season finale.
Appearances
- Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
- The Shawshank Redemption