Norman Gay won the Lord Leverhulme scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1939 where he was a contemporary of Sir Richard Attenborough. He ran his own company "Cue Theatre" for many years before taking holy orders and adopting a monastic life. he returned to the entertainment industry in the 1970s devoting his time between theatre projects and cameo roles on film and television. In 1980 he won the Theatre Associates award for the best supporting actor for his role as the Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear for the Causes Theatre Company. His performance as the "injured guest" in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" turned Norman into something of a horror movie icon and his image regularly appears in magazines and books on the genre.