Men Of Character Character Actors
Bill Thurman
The Last Picture Show/ Coach Popper
Where The Red Fern Grows/ Sam Bellington
Silverado/ Carter
Places In The Heart/ Homer
Bill Thurman was an American character actor.
He was born in November 4, 1920 in the state of Texas.
His career ran from 1963 through 1995 with 53 credits in the mediums of film and television.
Thurman was a rugged and stocky man with a hard lined, puffy face and a strong, bulky build. He talked with a twangy deep voice that was very amicable..
He often played police officers as well as a variety of scruffy redneck roles in a huge number of low budget fright flicks based in Southern areas.
However he did appear in some big budget films like Places In The Heart, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and Silverado.
His best performances for which is is best remembers were in the films The Last Picture Show as Coach Popper and Where The Red Fern Grows as Sam Bellington.
Some of the film roles of Bill Thurman were:
The Yesterday Machine (1963) as Police Detective
The Trial Of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964) as Witness
High Yellow (1965) as Major Bates
Hot Blooded Woman (1965) as Railroad Tough
Attack Of The Eye Creatures (1965-TV) as Sergeant On Guard
The Black Cat (1966) as Bartender
Zontar: The Thing From Venus (1966-TV) as Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
Curse Of The Swamp Creature (1966-TV) as Driscoll West/ The Swamp Creature
Spiked Heels And Black Nylons (1967) as Abel
Shameless Desires (1967) as Cal
Night Fright (1967) as Deputy Ben Whitfield
Mars Need Women (1967-TV) as Drunk On Pier
In The Year 2889 (1967-TV) as Tim Henderson
Hell Raiders (1968-TV) as Tex
It's Alive! (1969-TV) as Greeley
A Bullet For Pretty Boy (1970) as Huddy
The Last Picture Show (1971) as Coach Popper
Fair Play (1972-TV) as Jed Bartrum
The Sugarland Express (1974) as Hunter
Ride In A Pink Car (1974) as Barlow
'Gator Bait (1974) as Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas
Where The Red Fern Grows (1974) as Sam Bellington
The Florida Connection (1974) as Deke
Creature From Black Lake ( 1976) as Sheriff Billy Carter
Slumber Party '57 (1976) as Mr. Willis
Keep My Grave Open (1976) as Hitch Hiker
Charge Of The Model T's (1977) as Sgt. Bond
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) as Air Traffic Controller
The Beasts On On The Streets (1978-TV) as Carl Evans
Centennial (1978-TV Miniseries) as Uncle Dick Taylor
The Evictors (1979) as Preacher Higgins
Tom Horn (1980) as Ora Haley
Skyward (1980-TV) as Pilot #1
Raggedy Man (1981) as Sheriff
The Long Summer Of George Adams (1982-TV) as Floyd
Places In The Heart (1984) as Homer
Innocent Prey (1984) as Jim Gardner
Alamo Bay (1985) as Sheriff
Stormin' Home (1985-TV) as Bailiff
Silverado (1985) as Carter
The Long Hot Summer (1985-TV) as Houstin
Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986) as Rev. Bill McWiley
Hawken's Breed (1987) as Jeb Kline
It Takes Two (1988) as Bus Driver
In Broad Daylight (1991-TV) as Virgil Teague
Painted Hero (1997) as Old Man Bolen
Much of the movies that he appeared in were for drive in fare in the 1960's and 1970's.
Mr. Thurman's television appearances were mostly on TV movies but he did make appearances on Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color and Dallas.
Bill Thurman passed away in 1995 at Dallas, Texas.
My favorite performances of Mr. Thurman were in the films The Last Picture Show and Where The Red Fern Grows. I also enjoyed him also in Silverado, Places In The Heart, Creature From Black Lake, The Long Hot Summer (TV) and It's Alive.
Louie The Movie Buff