Bill Thurman

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 specialized in "regional" pictures, films made exclusively for distribution in the Southern States.

However, Thurman also appeared in two movies by Hollywood star director Steven Spielberg and played Coach Popper, the apparently homosexual husband of Cloris Leachman, in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971). The character actor also appeared in popular television shows like Dallas and Centennial. One of his later roles was Reverend McWiley in the horror film Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983).

Selected filmography

The Yesterday Machine (1963) - Police detective The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964) - Witness High Yellow (1965) - Major Bates Hot Blooded Woman (1965) - Railroad Tough The Black Cat (1966) - Bartender Zontar, the Thing from Venus (1966, TV Movie) - Sheriff Brad Crenshaw Curse of the Swamp Creature (1966, TV Movie) - Driscoll West / The Swamp Creature Spiked Heels and Black Nylons (1967) - Abel In the Year 2889 (1967) - Tim Henderson Shameless Desire (1967) - Cal Night Fright (1967) - Deputy Ben Whitfield Sam (1967) The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde (1968) - Policeman (uncredited) It's Alive! (1969, TV Movie) - Greely / Monster A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970) - Huddy The Last Picture Show (1971) - Coach Popper Encounter with the Unknown (1973) - Second Man The Sugarland Express (1974) - Hunter Ride in a Pink Car (1974) - Barlow 'Gator Bait (1974) - Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas Where the Red Fern Grows (1974) - Sam Bellington The Florida Connection (1976) - Deke Creature from Black Lake (1976) - Sheriff Billy Carter Slumber Party '57 (1976) - Mr. Willis Charge of the Model T's (1977) - Sgt. Bond Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) - Air Traffic #2 Keep My Grave Open (1977) - Hitchhiker The Beasts Are on the Streets (1978, TV Movie) - Carl Evans The Evictors (1979) - Preacher Higgins Tom Horn (1980) - Ora Haley Skyward (1980, TV Movie) - Pilot #1 Raggedy Man (1981) - Sheriff Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983) - Reverend Bill McWilley Places in the Heart (1984) - Homer Innocent Prey (1984) - Jim Gardner Alamo Bay (1985) - Sheriff Silverado (1985) - Carter Hawken's Breed (1987) - Jeb Kline It Takes Two (1988) - Bus Driver Painted Hero (1997) - Old Man Bolen (final film role)