Charles Dierkop.Photo:Everett
Everett
Charles Dierkop, the actor known for his roles inButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,The StingandPolice Woman, has died. He was 87.
Dierkop died on Sunday following a recent heart attack and a case of pneumonia, his daughter Lynn toldThe Hollywood Reporteron Monday. The star died at Sherman Oaks Hospital in California, per the publication.
Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1936, Dierkop also starred alongside Rod Steiger in 1964’sThe Pawnbrokerand played a mobster in the 1967 gangster flickThe St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Two years later, Dierkop landed the role of outlaw George “Flat Nose” Curry inButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He worked alongsidePaul Newmanin the Western film after also starring alongside the late actor, whodied in 2008 at age 83, in 1961’sThe Hustler.The pair went on to work together again in 1973’sThe Sting, which also starred hisButch Cassidy and the Sundance KidcostarRobert RedfordandRobert Shaw. Dierkop portrayed bodyguard Floyd inThe Sting.
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Charles Dierkop attends ‘The Midnighters’ Screening at the 20th Annual Dances With Films Festival in Los Angeles on June 1, 2017 in Los Angeles.Amy Graves/WireImage
Amy Graves/WireImage
Recalling landing the part of “Flat Nose,” Dierkop — who according toTHRbroke his nose several times in fights as a kid — told producer Rob Word in a 2018interview, “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 [director] George Roy Hill and got cast, quite simply.”
The star also made an appearance inR.E.M.’s 1992 music video “Man on the Moon,” in which Dierkop can be seen sitting at a bar.
Timothy Scott (left), Robert Redford, Ted Cassidy, Paul Newman, Dave Dunlap and Charles Dierkop in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’.Silver Screen Collection/Getty
Silver Screen Collection/Getty
In a 2017 interview withStar Trek, Dierkop reflected on playing Argelian Morla in a 1967 episode titled “Wolf in the Fold” and shared how people were still approaching him about the character decades later.
Admitting he was “just trying to get work” when he scooped the role, Dierkop called the response from fans “amazing.”
“Like I said, in the beginning, it was just another show for me, and it was another science-fiction type show. I’d done other ones,” said Dierkop. “I was at a reunion event on the lot. I don’t know what anniversary. Gene Roddenberry was there … There’s a big, long line of people outside, waiting to see people from the show come in, trying to get autographs. They were saying, ‘There’s Morla, Mr. Morla from Wolf in the Fold!’ I didn’t even remember what the title of the episode I did was. They’re remembering me all these years later. That’s when I first really realized how big this was.”
According toTHR, Dierkop was married to Joan Addis from 1958 until their divorce in 1974. The pair, who met at the American Foundation of Dramatic Arts, shared two children: son Charles Jr., who died in 1990 at age 29, and daughter Lynn.
source: people.com
