# That kid in "Deliverance" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709 "2003-06-27T05:55:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bradjam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Bradjam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bradjam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/1 "2003-06-27T05:55:01Z")
Okay…I just watched the movie “Deliverance” for the first time. In my humble opinion, the most, uh, intriguing part of the movie was the “dueling banjos” scene with the mountain boy. Was this kid an actor or a native they just picked up for the scene?? My curiosity has been aroused. ---
**Author:** ![Liakela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/58f4c7/32.png) [@Liakela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liakela)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/2 "2003-06-27T06:17:23Z")
Don’t know where they got [Hoyt Pollard](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Pollard,%20Hoyt), but he was only in one other move after Deliverance, and that was just him reprising his role from deliverance. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/3 "2003-06-27T07:53:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Liakela \* > **Don’t know where they got [Hoyt Pollard](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Pollard,%20Hoyt)…** There was mention of him on that site as having Down’s Syndrome, but in my memory of the movie (haven’t seen it for nigh on 15 years) I don’t believe that Down’s was the problem. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/4 "2003-06-27T08:04:19Z")
IIRC, he was a local. Never seen the movie, but I saw a special on it. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/5 "2003-06-27T12:22:02Z")
The kid was done up for two hours with make-up…He is quite normal. But he really can play _that_ fast. ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/6 "2003-06-27T12:23:09Z")
Slight Hijack, but did you guys ever hear the Bob and Tom parody of Tom Pettys “The Waiting Is The Heardest Part” called “Ned Beatty Had The Hardest Part”? Funnnneeee. Jon ---
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/7 "2003-06-27T12:44:47Z")
I don’t have a cite, but I recall hearing that the scene was not in the original script. The kid was a local and the director just happened to see him playing banjo. He was so impressed, that they wrote that scene into the movie. Again, I don’t have a cite, and I don’t even remeber where I heard that. It’s just knowledge floating around in my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/8 "2003-06-27T12:47:09Z")
yep! I’ve heard that too! milquetoast. But the bit about getting done up with make-up is true too according to a decent googling about Hoyt. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/9 "2003-06-27T12:57:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nitroglycerine \* > \*\*Slight Hijack, but did you guys ever hear the Bob and Tom parody of Tom Pettys “The Waiting Is The Heardest Part” called “Ned Beatty Had The Hardest Part”? Funnnneeee. > > Jon \*\* Ain’t it a fact? It’s so hard to see Ned in anything, despite the fact that he rarely does a less than competent job in whatever role he’s cast for, without thinking “Sooooooeeeeee!” Sorry to add to the hijack… ---
**Author:** ![Ivar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ivar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivar)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/10 "2003-06-27T15:26:58Z")
I read an interview with him recently and he said he didn’t actually play the banjo. Someone is behind him with his arms coming around and doing the playing. No, he is does not have Downs. He apparently works as a short-order cook in his hometown. The best part of the interview was when he said he wouldn’t have done the movie if he’d known “there was gonna be cornholin’” Cornholin’ That’s hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/11 "2003-06-27T15:48:37Z")
Hijack… anybody know anything about Herbert “Cowboy” Coward, who played the toothless redneck? I mean, the other redneck was B-movie actor Bill McKinney, whom I’ve seen in small parts in a lot of movies and TV shows. He’s often played small parts in Clint Eastwood’s (he was part of the hapless biker gang in “Every Which Way But Loose,” for instance). But as far as I can tell, his toothless partner never made a movie before or after “Deliverance.” So… was he just a local given a role in the movie, too? Or was he, like McKinney, just an actor who was waaaay too believable in his role? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/12 "2003-06-27T16:11:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Hijack… anybody know anything about Herbert “Cowboy” Coward, who played the toothless redneck? > > So… was he just a local given a role in the movie, too? Or was he, like McKinney, just an actor who was waaaay too believable in his role? \*\* Found a [radio interview](http://hal9000.inetstrat.com/deliverance.html) in which he says he was working a ghost town stunt show when Burt Reynolds found him. [This site]([http://www.altreel.com/cult-](http://www.altreel.com/cult-) fiction/Weekend\_in\_Aintry.html) says the two worked together for a time at [Ghost Town in the Sky](http://www.ghosttowninthesky.com/index.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/13 "2003-06-27T16:15:58Z")
Erm, “the two” being Reynolds & Coward. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-kid-in-deliverance/184709/14 "2003-06-27T16:25:43Z")
Oops, screwed up that [second link](http://www.altreel.com/cult-fiction/Weekend_in_Aintry.html).