‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ actor Charles Dierkop has died aged 87.
‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ actor Charles Dierkop has died aged 87
Also best known for his roles in ‘The Sting’ and ‘Police Woman’, the Hollywood veteran passed away on Sunday (25.02.24) in the wake of a heart attack and a bout of pneumonia, his daughter Lynn has told The Hollywood Reporter.
The publication added Charles died at Sherman Oaks Hospital, California.
Born Charles Richard Dierkop in 1936 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the actor also famously featured alongside Rod Steiger in 1964’s ‘The Pawnbroker’ and played a gangster in the 1967 mob movie ‘The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre’.
Two years later, Charles landed the part of outlaw George ‘Flat Nose’ Curry in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ alongside Paul Newman and Robert Redford who played the movie’s titular gunslingers.
He also worked alongside Newman in 1961’s ‘The Hustler’, and again on the 1973 con artist classic ‘The Sting’, in which Charles played bodyguard Floyd.
Recalling how he landed the part of ‘Flat Nose’, Charles – who broke his nose several times in fights as a youth – said in 2018: “My agent was on a plane reading a script and it says, ‘Flat Nose Curry’… I think I have someone in mind. So I got an interview with (‘The Sting’ director) George Roy Hill and got cast, quite simply.”
Charles also had a string of TV roles, in shows including ‘Star Trek’, ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ and ‘Police Woman’ with Angie Dickinson, on which he played Detective Pete Royston.
He also made an appearance in R.E.M.’s 1992 music video for their ‘Man on the Moon’ hit – with Charles seen in the promo sitting in a pub.
Charles was married to Joan Addis from 1958 until their divorce in 1974, and the couple – who met at the American Foundation of Dramatic Arts – had two children: son Charles Jr, who died in 1990 aged 29, and daughter Lynn.
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