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
1997
as Old Man Bolen
1991
as Virgil Teague
1989
as Jim Gardner
1987
as Jeb Kline
1985
as Houstin
1985
as Carter
1985
as Bailiff
1985
as Sheriff
1983
as Reverend Bill McWiley
1982
as Floyd
1981
as Sheriff
1980
as Pilot #1
1980
as Ora Haley
1979
as Sheriff
1979
as Preacher Higgins
1978
as Carl Evans
1978
as Phil Bradley
1977
as Hitchhiker
1977
as Air Traffic
1977
as Sgt. Bond
1977
1976
as Mr. Willis
1976
as Sheriff Billy Carter
1975
as Deke
1974
as Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
1974
as Sam Bellington
1974
as Barlow
1974
as Hunter
1972
as Second Man
1972
as Jed Bartrum
1971
as Coach Popper
1970
as Huddy
1969
as Greely / Monster
1969
as Tex
1969
as Tim Henderson
1968
as Drunk on Pier
1968
as Policeman (uncredited)
1968
as Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature
1967
as Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
1967
as Deputy Ben Whitfield
1967
as Sergeant
1967
as Lt. Lang
1967
as Abel
1967
1966
as Bartender
1965
as Railroad Tough
1965
as Major Bates
1964
as Witness