How did Bo Hopkins die? What happened? Cause of death Explained

How did Bo Hopkins die? What happened? Cause of death Explained

Bo Hopkins, the wily actor with the wild-eyed look who rose to prominence in films including The Wild Bunch, American Graffiti, Midnight Express, and White Lightning, died Saturday. He was 84 years old. Let’s see what happened, How did Bo Hopkins die, and What was his cause of death.

 

What happened to Bo Hopkins?

Hopkins’ death was announced on his official website.

“It is with deep regret that we announce Bo’s passing,” a statement on the website says. “Bo enjoyed hearing from his fans all around the world, and while he wasn’t able to react to every email he received over the previous several years, he cherished hearing from each and every one of you.”

 

How did Bo Hopkins die?

Hopkins died on May 9 at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys after having a heart attack, according to his wife of 33 years, Sian.

Hopkins was a favorite of Sam Peckinpah, who cast him in three films: as Clarence “Crazy” Lee in The Wild Bunch (1969), as a double-crossed bank robber in The Getaway (1972), and as a weapons specialist in The Killer Elite (1973). (1975).

 

Bo Hopkins Career

His role in George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973) as Joe Young, the head of The Pharaoh’s greaser gang, cemented him as a top-tier cinematic villain. The highlight of his job was convincing Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) to tie a hook and chain to a police car so that when it is chased, the back axle would fly off.

“I go to car shows because American Graffiti is the national song of car shows,” Hopkins told Shock Cinema magazine in 2012. “Graffiti brought folks out draggin’ and cruisin’ up and down streets.” It got folks back into vehicles and doing that type of thing.

You wouldn’t believe how many people have approached Candy [Clark], Paul [Le Mat], and me during these events and informed us that we’ve transformed their life.”

As his career progressed, the sandy-haired South Carolina native shifted to the good side of the law, and Quentin Tarantino cast him as a good man in Dusk to Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999).

“Tarantino stated he admired my work and that he had this part,” he explained. “So, I got the screenplay and said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it.'” This is fantastic.’ They didn’t notify me they were shooting in South Africa.”

Hopkins’ character, a violent teenage member of the gang, terrorizes a group of hostages inside a bank before dying in a shower of gunshots in The Wild Bunch. Just before his death, he says one of the most memorable lines in the film: “Well, how’d you like to kiss my sister’s black cat’s ass?”

“They brought me to special effects and ran cables up to my ass and up my legs.” “I got squibbed up 26 times,” he said of his first major film role. “I felt I was going to the moon if those things ever went off.” I had never dealt with squibs before.

Sam approached me and asked if I wanted a T-shirt. ‘No, sir,’ I said. ‘I want to experience it.’… So, you see, I had no idea. I wanted to feel and experience it, just like we discussed at the Actors Studio. And I didn’t wear a T-shirt like an idiot.”

During another bank heist, Hopkins’ Frank Jackson has his private parts blasted off by his companion Rudy (Al Lettieri) in a brief but powerful performance in The Getaway (1972). Rudy is then shot by Doc (Steve McQueen), who flees with the stolen goods.

In The Killer Elite, Peckinpah offered Hopkins a larger part as a weapons specialist hired by James Caan to foil an assassination.

Hopkins contributed to his criminal reputation as a moonshiner opposite Burt Reynolds in White Lightning (1973) and as Tex, a mysterious guy who seals Billy Hayes’ (Brad Davis) destiny in Midnight Express (1976). (1978). Let’s see what was Bo Hopkins Cause of death, down here.

 

Bo Hopkins Cause of death

Hopkins died of a heart attack on May 9 at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, according to his wife of 33 years, Sian.

 

Bo Hopkins Early Life

William Mauldin Hopkins was born in Greenville on February 2, 1938. His father worked at a nearby factory, while his mother cared for the children at home. His father died of a heart attack on his front porch at the age of 39, in front of his wife and kid.

Hopkins was transferred to live with his grandparents when his mother remarried the next year, and he found out when he was 12 that he had been adopted at the age of nine months. He ultimately met his biological mother and became acquainted with his half-siblings.

Growing young, Hopkins admitted to stealing money from family members to take his pals to the movies. When he enrolled in the United States Army soon before his 17th birthday, he was on his way to reform school following a failed heist.

“I have no idea how my mother and grandma put up with me,” Hopkins recalled. “Later, I returned home and brought them to watch The Wild Bunch and [1969’s] The Bridge at Remagen.” And that’s when everyone who predicted I’d wind up in prison said they always knew Billy was going to create a name for himself.”

Hopkins returned to Greenville after his duty, which included nine months in Korea, and secured a role in a local theatre production of The Teahouse of the August Moon, before receiving a scholarship at Kentucky’s Pioneer Playhouse. “I suppose there were about 180 individuals auditioning for summer stock,” he added. “I had no idea what summer stock was.”

Hopkins’ Pioneer Playhouse experience landed him a role in a New York play, and he was in an off-Broadway production of Bus Stop when the producers requested him to alter his name. Bo Hopkins was born when he adopted his character’s first name.

Hopkins opted to try his luck in Hollywood after only a few months in the city and another stay back home, receiving a scholarship to an acting school at the Desilu-Cahuenga Studios and subsequently a seat as an observer at The Actors Studio’s L.A. outpost.

Hopkins made his TV debut in 1966 on an episode of The Phyllis Diller Show, with Diane Davis playing his agent. “I did a Gunsmoke, then The Andy Griffith Show, playing Goober’s helper after the Phyllis Diller stuff,” he explained. “George Lindsey always claimed to be the one who launched my career.”

Early television appearances included The Virginian, The Wild Wild West, Judd for the Defense, and The Rat Patrol.

Hopkins’ time at Desilu also contributed to his breakout role. Wild Bunch actor William Holden saw Hopkins in a stage version of Picnic and suggested him to playwright Roy N. Sickner, who convinced Peckinpah to cast Hopkins as Crazy Lee.

In 1975, Hopkins played Turner, a high-strung, would-be Mafioso who loved to dress like a cowboy, in the independent neo-noir film The Nickel Ride, and mobster Pretty Boy Floyd in the ABC telefilm The Kansas City Massacre.

 

Bo Hopkins Films

He played sheriffs in A Small Town in Texas (1976), Sweet Sixteen (1983), Mutant (1984), Trapper County War (1989), The Bounty Hunter (1989), The Final Alliance (1990), Fertilize the Blaspheming Bombshell (1992), Texas Payback (1995), and A Crack in the Floor (1996). (2001).

The Moonshine War (1970), Monte Walsh (1970), The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973), Posse (1975), Tentacles (1977), The Fifth Floor (1978), Big Bad John (1990), Radioland Murders (1994), and U Turn (1994) were among Hopkins’ other films (1997).

He also had recurring roles on ABC’s Dynasty as the adulterous Matthew Blaisdel and as renegade disbarred lawyer John Cooper on NBC’s The Rockford Files in 1978-79, as well as guest appearances on Barnaby Jones, Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island, The A-Team, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Murder, She Wrote.

Hopkins appears in Hillbilly Elegy, directed by Ron Howard, in 2020, marking a reunion with his American Graffiti co-star. “That gave him quite a thrill,” his wife added.

His children, Matthew and Jane, are also survivors.

Hope now Bo Hopkins Cause of death is cleared.

KEEP READING,

Follow us on Twitter to get the instant latest news.

Leave a Comment

close