Person
Bill Thurman
Texas, USA
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 bui…
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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
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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1997
Painted Hero
Movie Old Man Bolen
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1991
In Broad Daylight
Movie Virgil Teague
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1988
It Takes Two
Movie Bus Driver
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1987
Hawken's Breed
Movie Jeb Kline
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1985
The Long Hot Summer
TV show Houstin
-
1985
Silverado
Movie Carter
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1985
Stormin' Home
Movie Bailiff
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1985
Alamo Bay
Movie Sheriff
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1984
Innocent Prey
Movie Jim Gardner
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1983
Mountaintop Motel Massacre
Movie Reverend Bill McWiley
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1982
The Long Summer of George Adams
Movie Floyd
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1981
Raggedy Man
Movie Sheriff
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1980
Skyward
Movie Pilot #1
-
1980
Tom Horn
Movie Ora Haley
-
1979
The Sky Trap
Movie Sheriff
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1979
The Evictors
Movie Preacher Higgins
More credits
-
1978
The Beasts Are on the Streets
Movie Carl Evans
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1978
Dallas
TV show Phil Bradley
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1977
Keep My Grave Open
Movie Hitchhiker
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1977
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Movie Air Traffic
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1977
Charge of the Model T's
Movie Sgt. Bond
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1976
Slumber Party '57
Movie Mr. Willis
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1976
Creature from Black Lake
Movie Sheriff Billy Carter
-
1975
The Florida Connection
Movie Deke
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1974
'Gator Bait
Movie Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
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1974
Where the Red Fern Grows
Movie Sam Bellington
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1974
Ride in a Pink Car
Movie Barlow
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1974
The Sugarland Express
Movie Hunter
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1973
The Pickle Goes in the Middle
Movie Mr. Stanovich
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1972
Encounter with the Unknown
Movie Second Man
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1972
Fair Play
Movie Jed Bartrum
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1971
The Last Picture Show
Movie Coach Popper
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1971
Strawberries Need Rain
Movie Key Grip
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1970
A Bullet for Pretty Boy
Movie Huddy
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1969
It's Alive
Movie Greely / Monster
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1969
Hell Raiders
Movie Tex
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1969
In the Year 2889
Movie Tim Henderson
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1968
Mars Needs Women
Movie Drunk on Pier
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1968
The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde
Movie Policeman (uncredited)
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1968
Curse of the Swamp Creature
Movie Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature
