Bo Hopkins died at 80 or 84 (Wild Bunch, American Graffiti)

aceplace57 · May 30, 2022, 2:54pm

Bo didn’t do a lot of tv. Did 4 episodes of Rockford Files and 18 episodes of Dynasty.

His Best known films are Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, The Getaway and American Graffiti.

Bo worked with major stars like William Holden, Ernest Borgnine,Steve McQueen.

His last film was in 2020.

Most articles say Bo was 80. Imdb claims 84. Bo joined the army at 16 and probably used a alternate birth date. Bo was in the 101st Airborne Division and served in Korea for nine months.

RIP Bo and thank you for all the great movies

terentii · May 30, 2022, 5:40pm

I always wanted to be a Pharao.*

*Pronounced “Fay-ro.”

RIP, Bo.

aceplace57 · May 30, 2022, 7:14pm

I plan to rewatch American Graffiti later this week.

I need to check my dvds. I think I have season 5 of Rockford. I looked it up and Bo played a lawyer that worked with Rockford. It was only a few episodes.

I always wondered why Bo didn’t get his own series. He had all the leading man qualities.

Capn_Carl · May 30, 2022, 7:26pm

I love his character in American Graffiti; a gangster trying to look more dangerous than he really was.
“Toby Juarez? Yeah, we know him……we killed him last night”

terentii · May 30, 2022, 8:05pm

Seeing what happened to him in More American Graffiti was a real punch in the gut.

Capn_Carl · May 30, 2022, 8:59pm

I don’t remember. What happened?

terentii · May 30, 2022, 9:04pm

Killed in Vietnam. He took a round in the chest while a machine gunner in a Huey helicopter.

Toad was listed as MIA because he deserted. We never found out if he survived the war.

Capn_Carl · May 30, 2022, 9:06pm

Yup, sad. Thanks.

BrickBat · May 30, 2022, 10:00pm

The first I’ve ever heard of him was seeing him play Lavrenti Beria, the head of the NKVD during the Stalin years in the film ‘The Inner Circle’.

He presence was so casually menacing.

aceplace57 · May 30, 2022, 10:08pm

Bo was really good playing bad guys. He got killed in several movies.

In The Wild Bunch , Hopkins’ character, a volatile young member of the gang, terrorizes a group of hostages inside a bank before meeting a horrible end in a hail of bullets. Just before his demise, he utters one of the film’s most quotable lines — “Well, how’d you like to kiss my sister’s black cat’s ass?”

“They took me to special effects and had wires runnin’ up my ass, up my legs. I was squibbed up 26 times,” he recalled of his first big movie role. “I fuckin’ thought I was gonna go to the moon if them things ever went off. I’d never worked with squibs. Sam asked me if I wanted a T-shirt. ‘No, sir,’ I said. ‘I want to feel it.’ … Well, see, I didn’t know. I wanted to feel it, experience it, just like we talked about at the Actors Studio. And like a damn fool, I didn’t wear a T-shirt.”

Site: Bo Hopkins, ‘Wild Bunch’ and ‘American Graffiti’ Actor, Dies at 84

Slithy_Tove · May 30, 2022, 10:20pm

“You seem like a nice guy, Billy. I really do feel sorry for you. But if you still try anything or try to run away again, I’ll blow your fucking brains out!”

Everyone from Midnight Express is now gone but Randy Quaid.