Bill Thurman
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
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 9.359 |
Birthday | 1920-11-04 |
Place of Birth | Texas, USA |
Also Known As |
1977
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
7.354/4120
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is abou...
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Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1970
A Bullet for Pretty Boy
4/4
A biography of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a gangster who started his career at a young age after seeking revenge for his father's murder.
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A Bullet for Pretty Boy
1974
The Sugarland Express
6.58/369
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Je...
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The Sugarland Express
1985
Silverado
6.955/699
Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside...
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Silverado
1968
Mars Needs Women
4/19
Tommy Kirk leads his fellow Martians to Earth on an interplanetary quest for females. Kirk proves that Martians have impeccable taste when one of his...
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Mars Needs Women
1971
The Last Picture Show
7.649/668
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having...
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The Last Picture Show
1967
Zontar: The Thing from Venus
3.976/22
A misguided scientist enables an alien from Venus named Zontar to come to earth in order to "help solve man's problems". However, as soon as Zontar ar...
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Zontar: The Thing from Venus
1983
Mountaintop Motel Massacre
4.367/49
After several years in an insane asylum, Evelyn, the keeper of the Mountaintop Motel, is released and resumes doing business. She kills her young char...
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Mountaintop Motel Massacre
1976
Creature from Black Lake
5.1/19
Two men exploring the Louisiana swamps run into a Bigfoot-type creature.
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Creature from Black Lake
1967
The Eye Creatures
2.926/27
A teenager and his girlfriend must save the world from "eye" aliens after their attempts to convince authorities of an invasion fall on deaf ears.
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The Eye Creatures
1969
In the Year 2889
2.8/25
The last seven survivors of a nuclear war barricade themselves against an attack by a mutant cannibal.
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In the Year 2889
1968
Curse of the Swamp Creature
2.4/18
While searching for oil in the deadly swamplands of the Florida Everglades, members of a geological expedition meet an insane doctor who is working on...
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Curse of the Swamp Creature
1969
It's Alive
3.5/20
A farmer traps three people in a cave with his pet prehistoric monster.
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It's Alive
1974
'Gator Bait
5.45/20
Desirée lives deep in the swamp and supports herself and her siblings by poaching. After an accident involving Deputy Billy and a friend, the Sheriff,...
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'Gator Bait
1979
The Evictors
6.5/30
A nice young couple move into an eerie house located in a small Louisiana town, unaware of its violent history.
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The Evictors
1967
Night Fright
2.8/15
A government space experiment into the effects of cosmic rays on animal life goes horribly wrong, creating a mutant monster that terrorizes a rural co...
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Night Fright
1997
Painted Hero
5.4/5
Virgil Kidder hasn't been in Waco for quite a spell, but now that he's back in town clowning in the rodeo, his troubles are catching up with him quick...
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Painted Hero
1969
Hell Raiders
3/1
In Italy during World War II, an American headquarters is evacuated when German forces break through the front lines. A demolition squad is sent back...
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Hell Raiders
1965
High Yellow
3/2
Cynthia Wood, a 17-year-old, light-skinned black girl, tries to pass off as white after getting hired of a wealthy movie magnate Mr. Langley who has f...
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High Yellow
1991
In Broad Daylight
5.714/7
The fanatically uncompromising Len Rowan and his family insult and terrorize the citizens of a small town for years. One day the comment of a saleswom...
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In Broad Daylight
1965
Hot-Blooded Woman
4.2/4
Backwoods bombshell Myrtle marries George, only to find out that George neither can nor wants to satisfy her desires. Lots of heavy breathing, roughin...
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Hot-Blooded Woman
1976
Slumber Party '57
5.5/2
In 1957, a group of high school girls spending the night in a mansion tell each other about their first sexual experiences.
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Slumber Party '57
1974
Where the Red Fern Grows
6.83/50
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in l...
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Where the Red Fern Grows
1974
Ride in a Pink Car
7.5/1
A man, thought to be dead, returns to his hometown in Florida. He finds his wife re-married and the town now ruled by corrupt forces.
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Ride in a Pink Car
1981
Raggedy Man
5.2/32
Nita, a divorced mother of two boys, is stuck working as a telephone operator in a small Texas town in World War II. Her friendship with a sailor on l...
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Raggedy Man
1976
The Florida Connection
2/1
Dan Gordon arrives in town on the edge of the Florida Everglades, planning to take part in a drug smuggling operation. He's aided by his friend, Mule...
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The Florida Connection
1980
Tom Horn
6.423/104
A renowned former army scout is hired by ranchers to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy when he carries out his job...
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Tom Horn
1972
Fair Play
0/0
A young man arrives at the town of Fair Play to see his uncle. What he finds upon arriving is a town hiding a secret from any outsiders. The young m...
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Fair Play
1966
The Black Cat
5.2/12
A mentally unbalanced man is obsessed with the idea that a black cat is possessed. He tortures and kills it. Later, he comes to believe that the cat h...
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The Black Cat
1989
Innocent Prey
4/4
A woman living in Dallas discovers that her husband, from New Zealand, is actually a crazed serial killer who murders prostitutes.
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Innocent Prey
1977
Keep My Grave Open
3.9/9
A crazy woman who lives in an old mansion thinks she's with her brother/lover, who lures victims to her.
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Keep My Grave Open
1978
The Beasts Are on the Streets
6/5
Panic grips a small community after a tanker truck crashes through a fence at a wild animal park, freeing dozens of dangerous beasts.
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The Beasts Are on the Streets
1967
Hip Hot and 21
2.6/5
The story of the country virgin who became queen of the innersprings...
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Hip Hot and 21
1967
Spiked Heels and Black Nylons
2.5/2
A policeman's wife becomes a drug addict and goes to work at the dreaded "Club Lesbo;" an affiliation run by gangsters. A haunted devil mask also figu...
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Spiked Heels and Black Nylons
1982
The Long Summer of George Adams
10/1
A middle-age man, in small-town Middle America, lives a momentous year in the mid-20th century.
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The Long Summer of George Adams
1967
Sam
0/0
Western by Larry Buchanan.
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Sam
1987
Hawken's Breed
3.5/11
Hawken is a rugged drifter and loner who meets and comes to rescue a young Shawnee woman, named Spirit in 1840s Tennessee, whom he leaves after saving...
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Hawken's Breed
1972
Encounter with the Unknown
4/16
Three eerie tales based on actual events are enacted in this film. First, three college students play a prank on a geeky classmate, who is accidentall...
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Encounter with the Unknown
1985
Alamo Bay
5.9/26
A despondent Vietnam veteran in danger of losing his livelihood is pushed to the edge when he sees Vietnamese immigrants moving into the fishing indus...
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Alamo Bay
1977
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald
6.8/2
The bizarre story behind the man accused of assassinating John F. Kennedy and what might have happened had he been brought to trial.
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The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald
1980
Skyward
7/4
Billie Dupree is a flight instructor at an old Texas airport. When a young girl in a wheelchair finds the airport by watching gliders fly, she decides...
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Skyward
1985
Stormin' Home
0/0
An aging motor-cross racer, already having lost his wife and daughter to his footlooseness and now about to have his semi-tractor cab repossessed, vow...
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Stormin' Home
1977
Charge of the Model T's
0/0
During WWI, the Germans try to encourages and hires a band of certain Mexican guerrillas and bandits to make trouble on the Texas border and attack th...
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Charge of the Model T's
1964
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald
4.7/3
The Dallas trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, President John F. Kennedy's alleged assassin, is enacted as it might have occurred. After the defense enters pl...
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The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald
1968
The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde
5/2
Quasi-documentay on Bonnie and Clyde... Larry Buchanan style!
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