Bill Thurman
| Bill Thurman | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Billie Thurman November 4, 1920 Texas, United States |
| Died |
April 13, 1995 (aged 74) Dallas, Texas, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963-1995 (secured) |
Bill Thurman (November 4, 1920 – April 13, 1995) was an American film and television actor. From the early 1960s until his death in 1995, he frequently appeared in B movies and independent films, often playing "redneck types" or sheriffs. He worked with low-budget-director Larry Buchanan on numerous films, for example In the Year 2889 and 'It's Alive!'. Thurman was one of those Southern actors who were specialized in so called "regional" pictures, films which were made exclusively for distribution in the Southern States.[1]
However, Thurman also appeared in two movies by Hollywood star director Steven Spielberg and played the Coach Popper, the apparently homosexual husband of Cloris Leachman, in Peter Bogdanovich's classic The Last Picture Show (1971). The character actor also appeared in popular television shows like Dallas and Centennial. One of his last big roles was Reverend McWiley in the horror film Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986).
Selected Filmography
- The Yesterday Machine (1963)
- The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964)
- Zontar, the Thing from Venus (1966)
- Curse of the Swamp Creature (1966)
- In the Year 2889 (1967)
- Shameless Desire (1967)
- Night Fright (1967)
- 'It's Alive!' (1969)
- A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)
- The Last Picture Show (1971)
- Encounter with the Unknown (1973)
- 'Gator Bait (1974)
- The Sugarland Express (1974)
- Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)
- Creature from Black Lake (1976)
- Slumber Party '57 (1976)
- Keep My Grave Open (1976)
- Charge of the Model T's (1977)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
- The Beasts Are on the Streets (1978)
- The Evictors (1979)
- Tom Horn (1980)
- Skyward (1980)
- Raggedy Man (1981)
- Places in the Heart (1984)
- Alamo Bay (1985)
- Silverado (1985)
- Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986)
- It Takes Two (1988)
- Painted Hero (1997)