Bill Thurman

Acting · Camera

Born November 4, 1920, 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 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

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