Person Details

Birthday:

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
Average
7

Dallas

(1978) Phil Bradley
Silverado
Average
7

Silverado

(1985) Carter
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Average
7
The Last Picture Show
Average
8

The Last Picture Show

(1971) Coach Popper
The Sugarland Express
Average
7

The Sugarland Express

(1974) Hunter
Tom Horn
Average
6

Tom Horn

(1980) Ora Haley
The Long Hot Summer
Average
5

The Long Hot Summer

(1985) Houstin
The Evictors
Average
7

The Evictors

(1979) Preacher Higgins

Acting

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

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