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
9
6
4
9
6
5
9
6
6
A mentally unbalanced man is obsessed with the idea that a black cat is possessed. He tortures and k...
More info9
6
7
A teenager and his girlfriend must save the world from "eye" aliens after their attempts to convince...
More info9
6
8
Quasi-documentay on Bonnie and Clyde... Larry Buchanan style!...
More info9
6
9
9
7
0
A biography of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a gangster who started his career at a young age after se...
More info9
7
1
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duan...
More info9
7
2
9
7
3
9
7
4
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red...
More info
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resol...
More info9
7
5
9
7
6
When the word gets out of a mysterious Bigfoot-type creature, two researchers come to a small town t...
More info9
7
7
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in ...
More info
A crazy woman who lives in an old mansion thinks she's with her brother/lover, who lures victims to ...
More info9
7
8
9
7
9
A nice young couple move into an eerie house located in a small Louisiana town, unaware of its viole...
More info9
8
0
9
8
1
A divorced mother of two boys is stuck working as a telephone operator in a small Texas town during ...
More info9
8
2
9
8
3
After several years in an insane asylum, Evelyn, the keeper of the Mountaintop Motel, is released an...
More info9
8
4
9
8
5
9
8
6
9
8
7
9
8
8
Travis is due to marry Stephanie in a few days when he is convinced by beautiful saleswoman Jonni to...
More info9
8
9
9
9
0
9
9
1
The fanatically uncompromising Len Rowan and his family insult and terrorize the citizens of a small...
More info9
9
2
9
9
3
Recent movies
| # | Name | Character | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In Broad Daylight (1991) | Virgil Teague | - | - |
| 2 | It Takes Two (1988) | Bus Driver | 7 | |
| 3 | Silverado (1985) | Carter | 6.9 | |
| 4 | Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983) | Reverend Bill McWiley | 6.3 | |
| 5 | Raggedy Man (1981) | Sheriff | - | - |
| 6 | Tom Horn (1980) | Ora Haley | - | - |
| 7 | The Evictors (1979) | Preacher Higgins | - | - |
| 8 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) | Air Traffic | 7.6 | |
| 9 | Keep My Grave Open (1977) | Hitchhiker | - | - |
| 10 | Creature from Black Lake (1976) | Sheriff Billy Carter | 5 | |
| 11 | Where the Red Fern Grows (1974) | Sam Bellington | 6 | |
| 12 | The Sugarland Express (1974) | Hunter | 5.4 | |
| 13 | The Last Picture Show (1971) | Coach Popper | 5.3 | |
| 14 | A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970) | Huddy | 5 | |
| 15 | The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde (1968) | Policeman (uncredited) | - | - |
| 16 | The Eye Creatures (1967) | Sergeant | 1 | |
| 17 | The Black Cat (1966) | Bartender | - | - |

