The actor played outlaw George ‘Flat Nose’ Curry in the classic Western film.
Actor Charles Dierkop, who starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, has died at the age of 87, his family has confirmed.
Dierkop passed away on Sunday (25th February) at Sherman Oaks Hospital after a recent heart attack and bout with pneumonia, his daughter, Lynn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
After a small supporting role in the Paul Newman-starring The Hustler (1961), Dierkop went on to work with Newman again in the classic Western film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which he played outlaw George ‘Flat Nose’ Curry.
Dierkop previously opened up about how he had broken his nose several times as a child, which helped him get the part.
“My agent was on a plane reading a script and it says ‘Flat Nose Curry’… ‘I think I have someone in mind,’” he explained in a 2018 interview with Rob Word. “So I got an interview with [director] George Roy Hill and got cast, quite simply.”
Dierkop later reteamed with Newman and Hill for the caper film The Sting, in which he played Floyd.
Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1936, Dierkop was enlisted in the US military in the mid-1950s and studied acting upon his return to civilian life.
His first on-screen appearance came in a 1960 episode of the crime series Naked City.
His first big-screen role was in the 1961 sci-fi movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
He also appeared alongside Rod Steiger in Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker (1964), starred in Roger Corman’s The St Valentine’s Day Massacre and portrayed a murderous Santa Claus in the cult horror movie Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).
Meanwhile, on the small screen, he appeared in the police procedural Police Woman, featuring Angie Dickinson, and also had supporting roles in some of the biggest shows of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, including The Andy Griffith Show, Star Trek, Bonanza, Mission: Impossible, Kung Fu, Batman, Gunsmoke, Fantasy Island, CHiPs, ER, MacGyver, Simon & Simon and The Fall Guy.
His last credited role was in the 2018 film Heaven & Hell.
Dierkop is survived by his daughter Lynn Scudder.