Bill Thurman
Age: 74 | From: Texas, USA
Person Details
Birthday: 1920-11-04 22:45:39
Death: 1995-04-13 22:45:39
Aliases: No known aliases
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Texas, USA
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 40
TV Involvements: 2
Most Famous Work
Biography
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
Most Famous Work
Dallas
(1978) Phil Bradley
Silverado
(1985) Carter
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(1977) Air Traffic
The Last Picture Show
(1971) Coach Popper
The Sugarland Express
(1974) Hunter
Tom Horn
(1980) Ora Haley
The Long Hot Summer
(1985) Houstin
The Evictors
(1979) Preacher HigginsActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Old Man Bolen | |
| 1991 | Virgil Teague | |
| 1987 | Jeb Kline | |
| 1985 | Houstin | |
| Carter | ||
| Bailiff | ||
| Sheriff | ||
| 1984 | Jim Gardner | |
| 1983 | Reverend Bill McWiley | |
| 1982 | Floyd | |
| 1981 | Sheriff | |
| 1980 | Pilot #1 | |
| Ora Haley | ||
| 1979 | Preacher Higgins | |
| 1978 | Carl Evans | |
| Phil Bradley | ||
| 1977 | Air Traffic | |
| Sgt. Bond | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1976 | Mr. Willis | |
| Sheriff Billy Carter | ||
| Deke | ||
| Hitchhiker | ||
| 1974 | Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas | |
| Sam Bellington | ||
| Barlow | ||
| Hunter | ||
| 1972 | Second Man | |
| Jed Bartrum | ||
| 1971 | Coach Popper | |
| 1970 | Huddy | |
| 1969 | Greely / Monster | |
| Tim Henderson | ||
| 1968 | Drunk on Pier | |
| Policeman (uncredited) | ||
| Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature | ||
| Tex | ||
| 1967 | Sheriff Brad Crenshaw | |
| Deputy Ben Whitfield | ||
| Sergeant | ||
| Lt. Lang | ||
| Abel | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1966 | Bartender | |
| 1965 | Railroad Tough | |
| Major Bates | ||
| 1964 | Witness | |
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
Camera
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Key Grip | |
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |