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I told you not to call me that.
~ Billy Nolan after Chris insulted him.

William "Billy" Nolan is a major antagonist of Carrie. Alongside his girlfriend Chris Hargensen, he hurts and humiliates Carrie White, who later takes revenge on him and her other tormentors with her telekinetic powers.

He was portrayed by John Travolta in the 1976 film, who also played Vic Deakins in Broken Arrow, Howard Saint in The Punisher, Ryder in The Taking of Pelham 123, Gabriel Shear in SwordfishEmil Kovač in Killing Season and Terl in Battlefield Earth, Castor Troy in Face/Off and Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. He was portrayed by Jesse Cadotte in the 2002 film, and Alex Russell in the 2013 film.

Biography[]

Novel[]

William "Billy" Nolan was Chris Hargensen's boyfriend and the leader of a gang in Chamberlain, Maine. He did not seem to really care anything about Chris and acted more as though she were his enemy rather than his friend. He was described as wearing a black motorcycle jacket and pegged jeans and greasy hair, maintained using a greasy, battered Ace comb (all of these factors imply that Billy is poor, compared to his girlfriend.)

Billy was one of the conspirators who helped in setting up the prom night prank against fellow classmate Carrie White, with whom Chris had harbored a bitter grudge after losing her prom privileges. Chris had approached Billy and "convinced" him to help her "get even" with Carrie. So Billy and his gang of greasers raided a pig farm one night and mercilessly butchered two pigs. Billy then broke into the Ewan High School gymnasium and poured the pigs' blood into two buckets, which he then placed high upon a rafter and tied with a rope. He also left his friends' fingerprints on the buckets, hoping they would get in trouble.  When prom night arrived, Chris would wait for Carrie and her date to arrive onstage and be crowned, and then pull the rope, drenching the pair with the blood.

This scheme worked without a hitch. But after a while, Carrie ran from inside the gym, crying. The next moment, faculty and students were dying left and right, and no one could figure out what was going on. Of course, Billy and Chris weren't bothering themselves with figuring out the mystery, for right after Chris pulled the rope, both made their way back to a local bar to an upstairs room where Billy was rearing to have sex in celebration of submitting Carrie to the "ultimate humiliation." But he got no farther than undoing Chris blouse.

Later, Billy's fellow classmate Jackie Talbot banged on the door to the room where Chris and Billy were sleeping and told them that most of the town was on fire, and Carrie caused it all. Billy and Chris quickly put their clothes on and left the roadhouse, not before Billy states that if the police found out about what happened at school, he would leave for California. Although he put into question whether he would take Chris if he went, it was revealed that he honestly would not.

The pair got into Billy's car, engine started, high beam blaring, Chris let out a scream that seemed to send mental signals to Billy, and that's when they saw the battered Carrie right in front of the car. Wasting no time, Billy put it into full throttle towards her. Before the car could make contact, Carrie mentally took control of it away from Billy and sent it hurdling right into the roadhouse from whence he and Chris come, killing them both.

1976 Film[]

John Travolta began his motion picture career by playing as the careless Billy Nolan in this movie. No mention was made of him having a gang. Unlike the novel, where Billy saw and treated Chris more like a nemesis, this Billy was dismissive and more "into" their relationship. He was changed into having more of a modern-day "white trash" look instead of Stephen King's signature Greaser-type bullies."

During the scene where he and Chris were driving around, he made jokes about Chris being scared that he was going to cause an accident. Chris, however, had a way for calling Billy stupid or "dumb shit." Billy did not take well to being called either. He would usually smack her for this remark, even showing occasional relief and enjoyment from it, meanwhile Chris also seemed to enjoy him smacking her.

Chris managed to "convince" Billy to help her exact revenge on someone named "Carrie White" Billy had no idea what Chris was talking about, but decided to help her anyway. He, Chris, Freddie DeLois, and Kenny Garson raided a pig farm to butcher a pig or two. Then Billy and Chris hurried over to the Bates High gymnasium and poured the blood into a bucket, which was then hoisted up to one of the overhead rafters. When the time came, someone would pull a rope attached to the bucket and drench Carrie with the blood when she would come onto the stage to be crowned prom queen.

The plan worked, but then something happened that neither Billy or Chris expected: Carrie snapped and uses her hidden telekinetic powers to dish out some revenge of her own, resulting in the death of nearly everybody. In this version, Billy and Chris are there to witness the mayhem and hell that ensues when Carrie begins her revenge, but are safe outside the gym as it happens.

Carrie's revenge did not end until later as she was walking home. Billy and Chris drove up behind her in Billy's car (in this version, it is Chris at the wheel), intending to run her over and cap their scheme. Carrie being who she is felt the car coming up behind her at high speed, and mentally veered the car into a clearing, tossing Billy and Chris with it. It then exploded a minute later.

2002 Remake[]

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Actor Jesse Cadotte portrayed Billy in the 2002 made-for-television remake of Carrie. Compared to his other appearances, Billy seems to be more of a cruel sadist bully in this film, whereas he appeared more of a crude (yet still sadistic) bully in the novel and a typical jock in the 1976 film. While he originally seemed at least relatable earlier, in this film he appears to be - like many other characters in Carrie - borderline insane. While originally treating his gang like friends, he instead treats them, including his closest friends, as a bully would treat his victims. In the re make he appears as the final antagonist because he pressures Chris into pulling the prank and tries to run over Carrie.

Mostly following the novel, he and Chris celebrate when, before they can begin, Billy's friend rushes in telling them about the news. Billy is not fully aware of the fact that Carrie is doing it, but knows that it is his and Chris's prank that caused it. When he attempts to run over Carrie, he and Chris are sent crashing into a tree, which the car then wraps around.

2013 Film[]

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In 2013 film, he is portrayed by Alex Russell.

Navigation[]

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Carrie
Billy Nolan | Carrie White | Chris Hargensen | Donna and Mary Lila Grace Thibodeau | Helen Shyres | Margaret White | Mortimer Snerds | Rachel Lang | Ralph White | Ruth Gogan | Tina Blake

Salem's Lot
Kurt Barlow | Richard Straker

Children of the Corn
Children of the Corn (Isaac Chroner | Malachai Boardman) | He Who Walks Behind the Rows

Trucks
Westway Refrigerated Truck | Bulldozer

Jerusalem's Lot
Philip Boone | The Worm

The Mangler
Bill Gartley | Lin Sue | The Mangler | The Mangler Virus

Quitter's Inc.
Mr. Donatti | Quitters Inc.

The Boogeyman
The Boogeyman

The Shining
Overlook Hotel | Jack Torrance (Stanley Kubrick) | Hotel Caretaker | Lorraine Massey

The Stand
Barry Dorgan | Bobby Terry | Harold Lauder | Julie Lawry | Lloyd Henreid | Nadine Cross | Randall Flagg | The Kid | The Rat Man | Trashcan Man | Whitney Horgan

Rage
Charlie Decker | Mr. Decker

The Long Walk
The Major | Gary Barkovitch

Roadwork
Barton George Dawes | Sal Maglorie

The Running Man
Damon Killian | United States of America

The Dark Tower
Dark Tower Villains

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
Bogs Diamond | Byron Hadley | Elmo Blatch | Samuel Norton | Sisters

Apt Pupil
Kurt Dussander | Todd Bowden

The Body
John "Ace" Merrill | Milo Pressman

Christine
Arnie Cunningham | Christine | Repperton Gang | Roland D. LeBay

Cujo
Cujo | Joe Camber | Stephen Kemp

Cycle of the Werewolf
Lester Lowe

The Dead Zone
Frank Dodd | Greg Stillson

Firestarter
Captain Hollister | Doctor Herman Pynchot | John Rainbird

It
Alvin Marsh | Bowers Gang (Belch Huggins | Henry Bowers | Marcia Fadden | Patrick Hockstetter | Peter Gordon | Vic Criss) | Butch Bowers | It | Richard Macklin | Tom Rogan

Creepshow
Creepshow Creep | Crate Beast | Nathan Grantham | Richard Vickers | Upson Pratt | Wilma Northrup

Creepshow 2
Creepshow Creep | Creepshow Bullies | Lake Blob | Sam Whitemoon | The HitchHiker

Creepshow 3
Creepshow Creep | Rachel

Cat's Eye
Cressner | Mr. Donatti | Quitters Inc. | Troll

Thinner
Tadzu Lemke | Billy Halleck | Richie Ginelli | Duncan Hopley

The Tailsman
Heck Bast | Sonny Singer

The Mist
Mrs. Carmody | The Mist

The Monkey
The Monkey

Cain Rose Up
Curt Garrish

The Raft
Lake Blob

Word Processor of the Gods
Richard Hagstrom | Roger Hagstrom

Maximum Overdrive
Bubba Hendershot | Camp Loman | Happy Toyz Truck | Ice Cream Truck | M274 Mule | Vending Machine

Misery
Annie Wilkes

Pet Sematary
Church | Gage Creed | Rachel Creed | Ellie Creed (2019 film only) | Wendigo | Timmy Baterman | Renee Hallow | Gus Gilbert | Clyde Parker | Zowie

The Tommyknockers
Tommyknockers | Nancy Voss

The Langoliers
Craig Toomey | Langoliers | Roger Toomey

Secret Window, Secret Garden
John Shooter

The Dark Half
George Stark

Dolores Claiborne
Joe St. George

Gerald's Game
Gerald Burlingame | Moonlight Man | Tom

Needful Things
Danforth Keeton | John "Ace" Merrill | Leland Gaunt

Gramma
Gramma Bruckner | Hastur

Crouch End
The Entity

Dolan's Cadillac
Jimmy Dolan

The Green Mile
William Wharton | Percy Wetmore

Sleepwalkers
Charles Brady | Mary Brady | Sleepwalkers

Storm of the Century
André Linoge

Dreamcatcher
Byrus | Mr. Gray

Bag of Bones
Max Devore | Sara Tidwell | Roggete

Rose Red
Professor Joyce Reardon

Insomnia
Atropos | Crimson King

Rose Madder
Norman Daniels

Desperation
Sheriff Collie Entragian | Tak

The Regulators
Seth Garin | Tak

Lunch at the Gotham Café
Guy

From a Buick 8
The Buick

Cell
Phone Crazies | Raggedy Man

Lisey's Story
Andrew Landon | Long Boy

Black House
Charles Burnside

Duma Key
Perse

Under the Dome
Christine Price | Dawn Sinclair-Barbara | Jim Rennie (TV series version) | Junior Rennie | Phil Bushey

11/22/63
Lee Harvey Oswald | Frank Dunning

A Good Marriage
Robert Bob Anderson

Big Driver
Lester Norville | Ramona Norville

Blind Willie
Raymond Fiegler

Mr. Mercedes
Brady Hartsfield | Morris Bellamy

Doctor Sleep
Rose the Hat | The True Knot | Crow Daddy | Grandpa Flick | Barry the Chink | Snakebite Andi

Gwendy's Button Box
Richard Farris

In The Tall Grass
Ross Humboldt

Locke & Key
Locke & Key Villains

The Crate
Crate Beast

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer
Ellen Rimbauer

The Gingerbread Girl
Jim Pickering

The Ledge
Cressner

The Night Flier
Dwight Renfield

The Outsider
The Outsider

Why We're In Vietnam
Ronnie Malenfant

1922
Wilfred James

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