Charles Dierkop

Charles Dierkop was a squat, pug-nosed supporting actor with kind, twinkling eyes and a face that otherwise seems to be carved from granite. Largely associated with roles of peculiar-looking thugs and colorful criminal henchman, he made his first film appearance as an uncredited petty hood in the 1961 Paul Newman pool drama, "The Hustler." His unobtrusive, subtly authentic approach meshed well with Newman's style and carried him to decidedly more visible parts in two of the classic megastar's biggest hits-the celebrated con-man comedy "The Sting," which featured Dierkop as the stalwart bodyguard to a gangster, and the seminal buddy western "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" ('69), in which he appeared as a member of the title duo's infamously freewheeling Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Not coincidentally, both films were helmed by Oscar-winning director George Roy Hill, whose career was built on using such veritably grizzled faces as Dierkop's. After delivering his boldest movie performance as the third lead in the brutally violent biker exploitation thriller "Angels Hard as They Come," the actor became known to millions of avid television viewers as a man on the other side of the law, playing the shaggy but dedicated detective Pete Royster throughout the entire 1974-'78 run of the sexy, swinging Angie Dickinson crime drama, "Police Woman." Though he's primarily remained a network-TV guest star in the decades since, making rather delightful appearances on such rollicking adventure series as the crafty "MacGyver," he's also carved out a slight niche playing scary madmen in low-budget horror fare.