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: woodyanders

Known For: Acting

Born: Texas, USA, 1920-11-04

Died: 1995-04-13

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1964	The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald	Witness	48
2	1965	High Yellow	Major Bates	30
3	1965	Hot Blooded Woman	Railroad Tough	36
4	1966	The Black Cat	Bartender	52
5	1967	Spiked Heels and Black Nylons	Abel	25
6	1967	Sam		0
7	1967	Hip Hot and 21	Lt. Lang	30
8	1967	The Eye Creatures	Sergeant	29
9	1967	Night Fright	Deputy Ben Whitfield	27
10	1967	Zontar: The Thing from Venus	Sheriff Brad Crenshaw	41
11	1968	Curse of the Swamp Creature	Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature	24
12	1968	The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde	Policeman (uncredited)	50
13	1968	Mars Needs Women	Drunk on Pier	39
14	1969	In the Year 2889	Tim Henderson	28
15	1969	Hell Raiders	Tex	30
16	1969	It's Alive	Greely / Monster	33
17	1970	A Bullet for Pretty Boy	Huddy	42
18	1971	The Last Picture Show	Coach Popper	76
19	1972	Fair Play	Jed Bartrum	10
20	1972	Encounter with the Unknown	Second Man	39
21	1974	The Sugarland Express	Hunter	66
22	1974	Where the Red Fern Grows	Sam Bellington	68
23	1974	Ride in a Pink Car	Barlow	75
24	1974	'Gator Bait	Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas	51
25	1975	The Florida Connection	Deke	20
26	1976	Creature from Black Lake	Sheriff Billy Carter	52
27	1976	Slumber Party '57	Mr. Willis	40
28	1977	The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald		68
29	1977	Charge of the Model T's	Sgt. Bond	0
30	1977	Close Encounters of the Third Kind	Air Traffic	73
31	1977	Keep My Grave Open	Hitchhiker	39
32	1978	The Beasts Are on the Streets	Carl Evans	58
33	1979	The Evictors	Preacher Higgins	65
34	1979	The Sky Trap	Sheriff	0
35	1980	Tom Horn	Ora Haley	63
36	1980	Skyward	Pilot #1	69
37	1981	Raggedy Man	Sheriff	53
38	1982	The Long Summer of George Adams	Floyd	100
39	1983	Mountaintop Motel Massacre	Reverend Bill McWiley	42
40	1984	Innocent Prey	Jim Gardner	40
41	1985	Alamo Bay	Sheriff	59
42	1985	Stormin' Home	Bailiff	0
43	1985	Silverado	Carter	70
44	1987	Hawken's Breed	Jeb Kline	35
45	1991	In Broad Daylight	Virgil Teague	57
46	1997	Painted Hero	Old Man Bolen	54

No.

Year

Title

Role

Vote Average

1964