Bill Thurman
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Character actor Bill Thurman was born on November 4, 1920 in Texas. A large, rugged, stocky man with a hard, lined, puffy face, a deep, twangy, amicable voice, a strong, bulky build and a charmingly low-key and down-to-earth unaffected natural screen presence, Thurman often portrayed police officers and assorted scruffy redneck types in a huge number of entertainingly cheap'n'cheesy Southern-fried fright flicks and delightfully down'n'dirty drive-in fare made throughout the 60s and 70s. Bill frequently acted in features for legendary Grade Z low-budget independent filmmaker Larry Buchanan; said movies include "The Eye Creatures," "High Yellow," "Zontar the Thing from Venus," "Mars Needs Women," "Curse of the Swamp Creature," "In the Year 2889," the especially atrocious "It's Alive!," and "A Bullet for Pretty Boy." Moreover, Thurman had bit parts in two Steven Spielberg films: he's a hillbilly hunter in "The Sugerland Express" and an air traffic controller in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Bill's other memorable roles include the abusive Coach Popper in Peter Bogdanovich's magnificent "The Last Picture Show," a doomed hitchhiker in "Keep My Grave Open," a corrupt sheriff in the Claudia Jennings exploitation classic "'Gatorbait," a mean small town deputy in "Ride in A Pink Car," a more amiable sheriff in the fantastic Bigfoot winner "Creature from Black Lake," Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith's father in "Slumber Party '57," a priest in "The Evictors," and the boozy, dissolute Reverend Bill McWiley in the enjoyably crummy "Mountaintop Motel Massacre." Bill Thurman died in Dallas, Texas on April 13, 1995. - IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
Known for
Credits
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
as Air Traffic
The Last Picture Show (1971)
as Coach Popper
Silverado (1985)
as Carter
Innocent Prey (1984)
as Jim Gardner
The Sugarland Express (1974)
as Hunter
'Gator Bait (1974)
as Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
The Black Cat (1966)
as Bartender
Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)
as Sam Bellington
Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968)
as Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature
Tom Horn (1980)
as Ora Haley
It Takes Two (1988)
as Bus Driver
Hawken's Breed (1987)
as Jeb Kline
Mars Needs Women (1968)
as Drunk on Pier
Raggedy Man (1981)
as Sheriff
Creature from Black Lake (1976)
as Sheriff Billy Carter
Skyward (1980)
as Pilot #1
In Broad Daylight (1991)
as Virgil Teague
Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983)
as Reverend Bill McWiley
Fair Play (1972)
as Jed Bartrum
It's Alive (1969)
as Greely / Monster
Alamo Bay (1985)
as Sheriff
Sam (1967)
Actor
Encounter with the Unknown (1972)
as Second Man
Keep My Grave Open (1977)
as Hitchhiker
Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1967)
as Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
The Beasts Are on the Streets (1978)
as Carl Evans
Night Fright (1967)
as Deputy Ben Whitfield
A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)
as Huddy
The Evictors (1979)
as Preacher Higgins
Charge of the Model T's (1977)
as Sgt. Bond
Spiked Heels and Black Nylons (1967)
as Abel
Painted Hero (1997)
as Old Man Bolen
Hip Hot and 21 (1967)
as Lt. Lang
Ride in a Pink Car (1974)
as Barlow
The Eye Creatures (1967)
as Sergeant
In the Year 2889 (1969)
as Tim Henderson
The Sky Trap (1979)
as Sheriff
Slumber Party '57 (1976)
as Mr. Willis
The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)
as Policeman (uncredited)
The Pickle Goes in the Middle (1973)
as Mr. Stanovich
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964)
as Witness
The Long Summer of George Adams (1982)
as Floyd
Hell Raiders (1969)
as Tex
Stormin' Home (1985)
as Bailiff
Hot Blooded Woman (1965)
as Railroad Tough
The Florida Connection (1975)
as Deke
High Yellow (1965)
as Major Bates