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Bill Thurman

Bill Thurman

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

Painted Hero

1997

as Old Man Bolen

In Broad Daylight

1991

as Virgil Teague

Innocent Prey

1989

as Jim Gardner

Hawken's Breed

1987

as Jeb Kline

The Long Hot Summer

1985

as Houstin

Silverado

1985

as Carter

Stormin' Home

1985

as Bailiff

Alamo Bay

1985

as Sheriff

Mountaintop Motel Massacre

1983

as Reverend Bill McWiley

The Long Summer of George Adams

1982

as Floyd

Raggedy Man

1981

as Sheriff

Skyward

1980

as Pilot #1

Tom Horn

1980

as Ora Haley

The Sky Trap

1979

as Sheriff

The Evictors

1979

as Preacher Higgins

The Beasts Are on the Streets

1978

as Carl Evans

Dallas

1978

as Phil Bradley

Keep My Grave Open

1977

as Hitchhiker

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1977

as Air Traffic

Charge of the Model T's

1977

as Sgt. Bond

The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald

1977

Slumber Party '57

1976

as Mr. Willis

Creature from Black Lake

1976

as Sheriff Billy Carter

The Florida Connection

1975

as Deke

'Gator Bait

1974

as Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas

Where the Red Fern Grows

1974

as Sam Bellington

Ride in a Pink Car

1974

as Barlow

The Sugarland Express

1974

as Hunter

Encounter with the Unknown

1972

as Second Man

Fair Play

1972

as Jed Bartrum

The Last Picture Show

1971

as Coach Popper

A Bullet for Pretty Boy

1970

as Huddy

It's Alive

1969

as Greely / Monster

Hell Raiders

1969

as Tex

In the Year 2889

1969

as Tim Henderson

Mars Needs Women

1968

as Drunk on Pier

The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde

1968

as Policeman (uncredited)

Curse of the Swamp Creature

1968

as Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature

Zontar: The Thing from Venus

1967

as Sheriff Brad Crenshaw

Night Fright

1967

as Deputy Ben Whitfield

The Eye Creatures

1967

as Sergeant

Hip Hot and 21

1967

as Lt. Lang

Spiked Heels and Black Nylons

1967

as Abel

Sam

1967

The Black Cat

1966

as Bartender

Hot-Blooded Woman

1965

as Railroad Tough

High Yellow

1965

as Major Bates

The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald

1964

as Witness