Charles Dierkop, known for playing rough-and-tumble roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, has died at age 87.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Dierkop had recently suffered a heart attack and pneumonia before he died Sunday at a hospital in Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Dierkop was born in La Crosse, Wisc., in 1936. He would go on to join the Marines before starting his film and television acting career in the early 1960s, often appearing the movies that also starred Paul Newman.
The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting were all nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Out of the three, The Sting was able to win in 1973.
Dierkop was known for taking “tough guy” roles such as a bodyguard named Floyd in The Sting and George “Flat Nose” Curry in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
“Dierkop had broken his nose in fights several times as a kid, so he was rather suited for the part,” the Hollywood Reporter notes.
Later in his career, the actor would make a brief appearance in the 1992 music video for R.E.M.’s “Man on the Moon.”
Dierkop’s TV roles included turns on Star Trek and the Andy Griffith Show.
“The business is what I’m not interested in,” Dierkop said in a 2017 interview with StarTrek.com. “Acting itself I’m interested in because it’s parallel to my life as a human being, the same problems off-stage as onstage.”
At that point, Dierkop was 80 years old and winding down his career. His last credited role was as a bank robber in the 2018 film Heaven & Hell.
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