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:Â woodyanders
Known For
Credits
- 1997 · Painted Hero as Old Man Bolen
- 1991 · In Broad Daylight as Virgil Teague
- 1989 · Innocent Prey as Jim Gardner
- 1987 · Hawken's Breed as Jeb Kline
- 1985 · The Long Hot Summer as Houstin
- 1985 · Silverado as Carter
- 1985 · Stormin' Home as Bailiff
- 1985 · Alamo Bay as Sheriff
- 1983 · Mountaintop Motel Massacre as Reverend Bill McWiley
- 1982 · The Long Summer of George Adams as Floyd
- 1981 · Raggedy Man as Sheriff
- 1980 · Skyward as Pilot #1
- 1980 · Tom Horn as Ora Haley
- 1979 · The Sky Trap as Sheriff
- 1979 · The Evictors as Preacher Higgins
- 1978 · The Beasts Are on the Streets as Carl Evans
- 1978 · Dallas as Phil Bradley
- 1977 · Keep My Grave Open as Hitchhiker
- 1977 · Close Encounters of the Third Kind as Air Traffic
- 1977 · Charge of the Model T's as Sgt. Bond
- 1977 · The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald as
- 1976 · Slumber Party '57 as Mr. Willis
- 1976 · Creature from Black Lake as Sheriff Billy Carter
- 1975 · The Florida Connection as Deke
- 1974 · 'Gator Bait as Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
- 1974 · Where the Red Fern Grows as Sam Bellington
- 1974 · Ride in a Pink Car as Barlow
- 1974 · The Sugarland Express as Hunter
- 1972 · Encounter with the Unknown as Second Man
- 1972 · Fair Play as Jed Bartrum
- 1971 · The Last Picture Show as Coach Popper
- 1970 · A Bullet for Pretty Boy as Huddy
- 1969 · It's Alive as Greely / Monster
- 1969 · Hell Raiders as Tex
- 1969 · In the Year 2889 as Tim Henderson
- 1968 · Mars Needs Women as Drunk on Pier
- 1968 · The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde as Policeman (uncredited)
- 1968 · Curse of the Swamp Creature as Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature
- 1967 · Zontar: The Thing from Venus as Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
- 1967 · Night Fright as Deputy Ben Whitfield
- 1967 · The Eye Creatures as Sergeant
- 1967 · Hip Hot and 21 as Lt. Lang
- 1967 · Spiked Heels and Black Nylons as Abel
- 1967 · Sam as
- 1966 · The Black Cat as Bartender
- 1965 · Hot-Blooded Woman as Railroad Tough
- 1965 · High Yellow as Major Bates
- 1964 · The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald as Witness