Herbert ‘Cowboy’ Coward Dies: ‘Deliverance’ Actor Is Killed in Car Crash at Age 85

Herbert “Cowboy” Coward, best known as the toothless mountain man in the movie Deliverance, has died at the age of 85. He was killed in a car accident, along with his girlfriend Bertha Brooks, and two pets, a chihuahua and a squirrel. They were struck by a 16-year-old driving a pickup truck in North Carolina. The other driver was taken to the hospital and as of now, no charges have been filed.

Coward can thank the late Burt Reynolds for his acting career. They met in the early 1960s when Reynolds was working as a stuntman and Coward was playing a character named Pa Clanton at the Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. He had been working there for a while and received the nickname “Cowboy” after operating the bulldozers that built the Ghost Town.