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
The Sugarland Express (1974)
as Hunter
Tom Horn (1980)
as Ora Haley
Creature from Black Lake (1976)
as Sheriff Billy Carter
It Takes Two (1988)
as Bus Driver
Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)
as Sam Bellington
'Gator Bait (1974)
as Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
Raggedy Man (1981)
as Sheriff
Innocent Prey (1984)
as Jim Gardner
Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1967)
as Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968)
as Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature
Alamo Bay (1985)
as Sheriff
A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)
as Huddy
The Beasts Are on the Streets (1978)
as Carl Evans
Charge of the Model T's (1977)
as Sgt. Bond
Spiked Heels and Black Nylons (1967)
as Abel
The Sky Trap (1979)
as Sheriff
In Broad Daylight (1991)
as Virgil Teague
Encounter with the Unknown (1972)
as Second Man
Keep My Grave Open (1977)
as Hitchhiker
Ride in a Pink Car (1974)
as Barlow
Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983)
as Reverend Bill McWiley
Sam (1967)
Actor
In the Year 2889 (1969)
as Tim Henderson
The Long Summer of George Adams (1982)
as Floyd
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964)
as Witness
Mars Needs Women (1968)
as Drunk on Pier
The Evictors (1979)
as Preacher Higgins
It's Alive (1969)
as Greely / Monster
Painted Hero (1997)
as Old Man Bolen
Hawken's Breed (1987)
as Jeb Kline
The Eye Creatures (1967)
as Sergeant
The Pickle Goes in the Middle (1973)
as Mr. Stanovich
Stormin' Home (1985)
as Bailiff
Hip Hot and 21 (1967)
as Lt. Lang
Hell Raiders (1969)
as Tex
Skyward (1980)
as Pilot #1
Fair Play (1972)
as Jed Bartrum
Night Fright (1967)
as Deputy Ben Whitfield
The Black Cat (1966)
as Bartender
Slumber Party '57 (1976)
as Mr. Willis
The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)
as Policeman (uncredited)
Hot Blooded Woman (1965)
as Railroad Tough
High Yellow (1965)
as Major Bates
The Florida Connection (1975)
as Deke