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 lowkey and downtoearth unaffected natural screen presence Thurman often portrayed police officers and assorted scruffy redneck types in a huge number of entertainingly cheapncheesy Southernfried fright flicks and delightfully downndirty drivein fare made throughout the 60s and 70s Bill frequently acted in features for legendary Grade Z lowbudget 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 Its Alive and A Bullet for Pretty Boy Moreover Thurman had bit parts in two Steven Spielberg films hes a hillbilly hunter in The Sugerland Express and an air traffic controller in Close Encounters of the Third Kind Bills other memorable roles include the abusive Coach Popper in Peter Bogdanovichs 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 Smiths 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
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