Bill Thurman

Birthday:

11/04/1920

Place of birth:

Texas, USA:

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



Credits

Painted Hero (1997)
Old Man Bolen
In Broad Daylight (1991)
Virgil Teague
Innocent Prey (1989)
Jim Gardner
Hawken's Breed (1987)
Jeb Kline
Silverado (1985)
Carter
Stormin' Home (1985)
Bailiff
Alamo Bay (1985)
Sheriff
Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983)
Reverend Bill McWiley
The Long Summer of George Adams (1982)
Floyd
Raggedy Man (1981)
Sheriff
Skyward (1980)
Pilot #1
Tom Horn (1980)
Ora Haley
The Evictors (1979)
Preacher Higgins
The Beasts Are on the Streets (1978)
Carl Evans
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Air Traffic
Charge of the Model T's (1977)
Sgt. Bond
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1977)
Slumber Party '57 (1976)
Mr. Willis
Creature from Black Lake (1976)
Sheriff Billy Carter
The Florida Connection (1976)
Deke
Keep My Grave Open (1976)
Hitchhiker
'Gator Bait (1974)
Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Sam Bellington
Ride in a Pink Car (1974)
Barlow
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Hunter
Encounter with the Unknown (1972)
Second Man
Fair Play (1972)
Jed Bartrum
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Coach Popper
A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)
Huddy
It's Alive (1969)
Greely / Monster
Hell Raiders (1969)
Tex
In the Year 2889 (1969)
Tim Henderson
Mars Needs Women (1968)
Drunk on Pier
The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)
Policeman (uncredited)
Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968)
Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature
Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1967)
Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
Night Fright (1967)
Deputy Ben Whitfield
The Eye Creatures (1967)
Sergeant
Hip Hot and 21 (1967)
Lt. Lang
Sam (1967)
Spiked Heels and Black Nylons (1967)
Abel
The Black Cat (1966)
Bartender
Hot-Blooded Woman (1965)
Railroad Tough
High Yellow (1965)
Major Bates
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964)
Witness
Strawberries Need Rain (1971)
Key Grip
The Black Cat (1966)
Key Grip