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
Silverado (1985)
as Carter
The Last Picture Show (1971)
as Coach Popper
Innocent Prey (1984)
as Jim Gardner
The Sugarland Express (1974)
as Hunter
'Gator Bait (1974)
as Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
Sam (1967)
Actor
Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)
as Sam Bellington
It Takes Two (1988)
as Bus Driver
Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968)
as Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature
Raggedy Man (1981)
as Sheriff
Spiked Heels and Black Nylons (1967)
as Abel
Hawken's Breed (1987)
as Jeb Kline
Creature from Black Lake (1976)
as Sheriff Billy Carter
Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983)
as Reverend Bill McWiley
Tom Horn (1980)
as Ora Haley
It's Alive (1969)
as Greely / Monster
Mars Needs Women (1968)
as Drunk on Pier
In Broad Daylight (1991)
as Virgil Teague
The Evictors (1979)
as Preacher Higgins
The Black Cat (1966)
as Bartender
A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)
as Huddy
The Eye Creatures (1967)
as Sergeant
Alamo Bay (1985)
as Sheriff
Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1967)
as Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
Charge of the Model T's (1977)
as Sgt. Bond
Encounter with the Unknown (1972)
as Second Man
Painted Hero (1997)
as Old Man Bolen
Night Fright (1967)
as Deputy Ben Whitfield
Keep My Grave Open (1977)
as Hitchhiker
Skyward (1980)
as Pilot #1
Slumber Party '57 (1976)
as Mr. Willis
Hell Raiders (1969)
as Tex
In the Year 2889 (1969)
as Tim Henderson
The Beasts Are on the Streets (1978)
as Carl Evans
The Long Summer of George Adams (1982)
as Floyd
High Yellow (1965)
as Major Bates
Stormin' Home (1985)
as Bailiff
Fair Play (1972)
as Jed Bartrum
Hip Hot and 21 (1967)
as Lt. Lang
The Sky Trap (1979)
as Sheriff
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964)
as Witness
Hot Blooded Woman (1965)
as Railroad Tough
Ride in a Pink Car (1974)
as Barlow
The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)
as Policeman (uncredited)
The Pickle Goes in the Middle (1973)
as Mr. Stanovich
The Florida Connection (1975)
as Deke