Bill Thurman

Known for ActingBorn 1920-11-04Died 1995-04-13Texas, 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: woodyandersRead more

Movies & web series

Charge of the Model T's

The Long Summer of George Adams

The Last Picture Show

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Ride in a Pink Car

Skyward

Stormin' Home

Silverado

The Sky Trap

Sam

Where the Red Fern Grows

Dallas

The Sugarland Express

The Beasts Are on the Streets

The Evictors

Tom Horn

In Broad Daylight

Alamo Bay

Hell Raiders

The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde

It Takes Two

The Long Hot Summer

Raggedy Man

Painted Hero

The Florida Connection

Fair Play

Creature from Black Lake

The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald

The Black Cat

'Gator Bait

Mountaintop Motel Massacre

Slumber Party '57

Innocent Prey

Encounter with the Unknown

Zontar: The Thing from Venus

Hawken's Breed

A Bullet for Pretty Boy

Strawberries Need Rain

Keep My Grave Open

Spiked Heels and Black Nylons

Hot Blooded Woman

Mars Needs Women

It's Alive

High Yellow

Hip Hot and 21

In the Year 2889

Night Fright

The Eye Creatures