Charles Dierkop obit

Charles Dierkop, Actor in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ ‘The Sting’ and ‘Police Woman,’ Dies at 87

Frequently cast as heavies, he also appeared in 'The St. Valentine's Day Massacre,' 'Star Trek' and 'The Andy Griffith Show.'

 He was not on the list.

Charles Dierkop, the busy character actor who played tough guys in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting and the 1970s Angie Dickinson series Police Woman, has died. He was 87.

Dierkop died Sunday at Sherman Oaks Hospital after a recent heart attack and bout with pneumonia, his daughter, Lynn, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The Wisconsin native also appeared alongside Rod Steiger in Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker (1964), played the mobster Salvanti in Roger Corman‘s The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) and was a murderous Santa Claus in the cult horror movie Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).

After portraying an uncredited pool-hall hood in the Paul Newman-starring The Hustler (1961), Dierkop got to work with Newman again in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when he was hired to play Hole in the Wall Gang outlaw George “Flat Nose” Curry.

Dierkop had broken his nose in fights several times as a kid, so he was rather suited for 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 said in a 2018 interview with Rob Word. “So I got an interview with [director] George Roy Hill and got cast, quite simply.”

He would reteam with Newman and Hill once more in the Oscar best picture winner The Sting (1973), this time playing Floyd, the bodyguard who serves as protection for Robert Shaw’s crime boss Doyle Lonnegan.

The 5-foot-9 Dierkop appeared in two episodes of the Joseph Wambaugh-created NBC drama Police Story, the second as Det. Pete Royster on March 1974’s “The Gamble,” which served as the de facto pilot for Police Woman.

Dierkop then starred as Royster for four seasons (1974-78) of NBC’s Police Woman, with his character teaming with Sgt. Suzanne “Pepper” Anderson (Dickinson) and Det. Joe Styles (Ed Bernard) inside an undercover LAPD unit captained by Lt. Bill Crowley (Earl Holliman).

Charles Richard Dierkop was born on Sept. 11, 1936, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. When he was an infant, his father left the family and his mom moved away, and he was raised by his aunt and uncle. He frequently got into fights and “got my nose busted four times,” he said, the first time while in Holy Trinity grade school.

While he was a junior at Aquinas High School, Dierkop dropped out to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps and served during the Korean War until September 1955. Later, he studied acting in Philadelphia and then with Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio in New York.

In 1960, Dierkop showed up on Naked City for the first of his eight uncredited appearances on the gritty ABC drama, and two years later he was on Broadway in General Seeger, directed by and starring George C. Scott, though the play closed after two performances.

He played a bank robber on the 1966 Andy Griffith Show episode “Otis, the Deputy,” an Argelian named Morla on the 1967 Star Trek installment “Wolf in the Fold” and a henchman named Dustbag on the 1968 Batman episode “Penguin’s Clean Sweep.”

Frequently portraying heavies, he also appeared three times on Gunsmoke and on such other shows as Lost in Space, Adam-12, Mannix, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Lancer, Bonanza, Mission: Impossible, Kojak, Fantasy Island, Simon & Simon, MacGyver and ER.

His big-screen résumé also included The Sweet Ride (1968), Robert Downey Sr.’s Pound (1970), Angels Hard as They Come (1971), Night of the Cobra Woman (1972), The Hot Box (1972), Messiah of Evil (1973), Messenger of Death (1988) and The Midnighters (2016).

And if you watch closely, you’ll see him sitting at the bar in the 1992 music video for R.E.M.’s “Man on the Moon.”

Dierkop was married to Joan Addis, whom he met at the American Foundation of Dramatic Arts, from 1958 until their 1974 divorce. They had two children, Charles Jr., who died in 1990 at age 29, and Lynn.

Partial filmography

1961 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as pilot of the Seaview (uncredited)

1961 The Hustler as pool room hood (uncredited)

1964 The Pawnbroker as Robinson

1967 Gunn as Lazlo Joyce

1967 The St. Valentine's Day Massacre as Salvanti

1968 The Sweet Ride as Mr. Clean

1969 The Thousand Plane Raid as Railla

1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as George "Flat-Nose" Curry

1970 Pound as Airdale

1971 Angels Hard as They Come as General

1972 Night of the Cobra Woman

1972 The Hot Box as Garcia, the Journalist/Major Dubay

1973 Messiah of Evil as the gas attendant

1973 The Student Teachers

1973 The Sting as Floyd

1977 Captains Courageous as Tom Platt

1979 Star Virgin as Igor

1981 Texas Lightning as Walt

1984 Silent Night, Deadly Night as the Killer Santa

1985 The Fix as Hawkeye

1987 Savage Harbor as Boat Gunman

1987 Code Name Zebra as "Crazy"

1987 Banzai Runner as Traven

1988 Grotesque as Matson

1988 Messenger of Death as Orville Beecham

1989 Spies and Lovers as Ben "Biker Ben"

1989 Blood Red as Cooper

1989 Liberty & Bash as Mr. B

1990 Eternity as the video editor

1990 Nerds of a Feather Ben "Biker Ben"

1990 Under Crystal Lake

1992 Roots of Evil as Collins

1994 Maverick as Riverboat Poker Player (uncredited)

1994 Reverse Heaven as bank robber

1996 Too Fast Too Young as businessman

1998 Merchants of Venus as Carl

1998 Invisible Dad as Mr. Weiderman

2000 Superguy: Behind the Cape as Sam Trent

2005 Murder on the Yellow Brick Road as Redwood

2006 Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery (TV movie) as Zeke Foster

2008 Chinaman's Chance: America's Other Slaves as Dr. Sawyer

2009 Forget Me Not as Pete, the Foreman

2016 The Midnighters as Louie

Television credits

The Naked City (1960-1962) - Arrest Suspect / Boy who Gets Beaten Up / Tow Truck Driver / Shag's Friend / Hungarian in Rail Yard / Hood / Registered Mail Clerk / Hood #1 (uncredited)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1965) - Left-Handed Man

Lost in Space (1965) - Horned Mutant (uncredited)

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1966) - Adolph

Gunsmoke (1966) - Silvee & Dan

The Andy Griffith Show (1966) - Larry

Star Trek (1967, episode: Wolf in the Fold) - Morla

Batman (1968) - Dustbag (uncredited)

Adam-12 (1968) - Janney

Lancer (1968-1970) - Walters / Bleaker / Harris

Bonanza (1969-1972) - Shorty / Nicholson / Sawyer

The High Chaparral (1970) - Slim

Land of the Giants (1970) - Arthur Kamber

Bearcats! (1971, in episode 9, "Bitter Flats") - Pistolero

Love, American Style (1971) - Gus (segment "Love and the Eyewitness")

Mission: Impossible (1972) - Richie

Alias Smith and Jones (1971-1973) - Clayton Crewes / Poker Player / Shields

Kung Fu (1973) - Traphagen

Mannix (1969-1973) - Frank / Makuta / John Marrish

Gunsmoke (1966-1973) - Traphagen

Kojak (1974) - DeLuca

Police Story (1973-1974) - Royster / Dave Rawlins

Cannon (1971-1974) - Eddie Main / Keegan

Police Woman (1974-1978) - Det. Pete Royster

Vega$ (1978) - Lenny

The Deerslayer (1978, TV Movie) - Hurry Harry March

CHiPs (1980) - Mouse

Fantasy Island (1980-1982) - Vinnie Avalon / Harry 'Weasel' Forbes

Matt Houston (1983-1984) - Viney / Choo Choo

The Fall Guy (1983-1985) - Mack Doyle / Arden

Simon & Simon (1986-1988) - Al Pacheco / Jerry Sappman

MacGyver (1991) - Mo Nimitz