Bo Hopkins, ‘Wild Cluster’ and ‘American Graffiti’ Actor, Dies at 84

Bo Hopkins, a wide-eyed actor who rose to fame for playing thugs and scoundrels in films like wild curls, american graffiti, the midnight express s White lighting, He died on Saturday. I was 84 years old.

Hopkins died of a heart attack at Van Nuys Valley Presbyterian Hospital on May 9, said his wife Xian, 33. the hollywood reporter.

With hair extensions, Hopkins was a favorite of Sam Pekingpay, who played him in three roles: Clarence “Crazy” Lee. wild curls (1969) as a mischievous bank robber in St. Louis Get out (1972) and as a weapons specialist the killer elite (1975).

Your turn is Joe Young, the leader of the Pharaohs Gracer Gang in George Lucas american graffiti (1973), reinforced him as the screen villain of the highest order. The highlight of his role was the tension between Kurt (Richard Dreyfuss) to attach the hook and chain to the police car so that when he chased it, the rear axle would fly off.

“That’s why I go to car shows american graffiti It’s the national anthem of car shows,” Hopkins said in a 2012 interview. shock movie Daily. “Graphite People were evacuated and taken to the streets on cruise ships. It made people go back to cars doing things like that. If I told you how many times people came to Candy [Clark]Paul [Le Mat] “And I’m at these shows and you told us we changed their lives, you won’t believe it.”

As his career progressed, the red-haired South Carolina native moved to the right side of the law, and executive producer Quentin Tarantino encouraged him to look like a nice guy. Dusk to Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999).

“Tarantino told me he loved my job and that he had this role,” he said. “Well, I took the script and said, of course, I’m going to do it. Nice.’ “Well, they didn’t tell me they were shooting in South Africa.”

Inside wild curlsHopkins’ character, an unstable young gang member, terrorizes a group of hostages at a bank before meeting a gruesome end in a hail of bullets. Before he dies, he delivers one of the film’s most quoted lines: “Well, how do you want to kiss my sister’s black cat on the back?”

“They took me to special effects and the cables went to my back, to my legs. “I fought 26 times,” he recalled his role in his first big movie. “I thought I would have gone to the moon if they fell. I’ve never worked with skibs. Sam asked me if I wanted a t-shirt. “No sir,” I told him. ‘I want to feel.’ … Well, look, I didn’t know. I wanted to feel it, experience it, just like we talked about in the actor’s studio. And I don’t wear a shirt like an idiot.”

With a brief but impressive performance. Get out (1972), Hopkins Frank Jackson explodes private parts during another bank robbery with his partner Rudy (Al Letier). Rudy, meanwhile, is shot by Doc (Steve McQueen), who leaves with the stolen loot.

Beijing gave Hopkins a bigger role the killer elite As a weapons specialist hired by James Caan to stop the assassination.

Hopkins added to his criminal mysticism like the moon with Bert Reynolds White lighting (1973) and as Tex, the mysterious man who foils the fate of Billy Hayes (Brad Davis), the midnight express (1978).

William Moldin Hopkins was born on February 2, 1938, in Greenville, South Carolina. His father worked at a local mill, while his mother stayed home with the children. At the age of 39, his father suffered a heart attack and died in front of his wife and son on the porch of the house.

Hopkins was sent to live with his grandparents when his mother remarried for the second year, so he learned at age 12 that he had been adopted at the age of nine months. He eventually met his birth mother and met his half-siblings.

Hopkins said that growing up, he would steal money from family members to take his friends to the movies. He went to juvie after a botched robbery when he enlisted in the US Army on his 17th birthday.

“I don’t know how my mother and grandmother got used to me,” recalled Hopkins. “So I went back home and took him to see wild curls And my second movie, [1969’s] Bridge in Remagen. And that’s when everyone who said he was going to go to jail said they always knew Billy would do something for himself.

After a nine-month service in Korea, Hopkins returned to Greenville and took on a production role. august moon tea house At the local theater, he later received a scholarship to the Pioneer Playhouse of Kentucky. “I think 180 people were trying to stock up over the summer,” he said. “I didn’t even know what summer supplies were.”

Hopkins’ experience at the Pioneer Playhouse saw her act in a play in New York and she was in a play on Broadway. Bus stop When the producers asked him to change his name. He took his character’s name and Bo Hopkins was born.

After a few months in the city and returning home again, Hopkins decided to try his luck in Hollywood and received a scholarship to acting school at Desilu-Cahuenga Studios, then an observer at the Los Angeles Actors Outpost. Studying.

With agent Diane Davis, Hopkins made his screen debut in a 1966 episode. Phil Dealer Show. “After the Phil dealer affair, I did A. gun smokeLater Andy Griffith concert“He’s playing as Guberi’s assistant,” he said. “George Lindsay always said he started my career.”

Other first television appearances came Virgin, wild west, Jud for defense and rat patrol.

During Hopkins, Desilu also led her breakout role. wild curls Actor William Holden found out about his stage performance. picnic And he was advised by screenwriter Roy N. Sikner, who convinced Beijing to play Hopkins in Mad Lee.

Hopkins’ two favorite illegal shows came in 1975, when he played Turner, a supposedly powerful mobster who liked to dress up like a cowboy in an independent neo-noir film. nickel ride And like a gangster in the TV movie Pretty Boy Floyd ABC The Kansas City Massacre.

As a law abiding boy he played the bailiffs A small town in Texas (1976), Ტtooth sixteen (1983), mutant (1984), Trapper County War (1989), bounty hunter (1989), the ultimate alliance (nineteen ninety), Fertilize the mutilating bomb (1992), texas pays (1995) and break the ground (2001).

Other Hopkins features included moon war (1970), on the mounting wall (1970), A man who loved the dance of cats. (1973), to possess (1975), tentacles (1977), fifth floor (1978), john the great evil (nineteen ninety), Radioland murders (1994) and Your turn (1997).

He also had recurring roles as the adulterer Matthew Blazdell on ABC. dynasty, And how Renegade fired attorney John Cooper on NBC Rockford Archives In 1978-79 and guest star on other shows like Barnaby Jones, Charlie’s Angels, fantasy Island, a team, The coward and his king s murder, he wrote.

In 2020, Hopkins appeared in his latest film, Hillbil’s ElegyDirected by Ron Howard, Celebrating Their Reunion american graffiti Constellation. “It was very emotional for him,” said his wife.

The survivors include their children, Matthew and Jane.