Celebrity Biographies
Bo Hopkins
Unmistakable for her sandy-colored hair, Bo Hopkins was in three Sam Peckinpah films, including the legendary “Wild Bunch,” and George Lucas’s “American Graffitti,” among numerous other titles. Bo Hopkins died on May 28, 2022, at the age of 84, at a hospital in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, where he remained admitted after suffering a heart attack a few days earlier.
Born in Greenville, South Carolina, on February 2, 1938, Guillermo Mauldin Hopkins – Bo Hopkins’ real name – was adopted as a baby by a couple who could not conceive children. After the death of his adoptive father, he had a troubled adolescence, marked by truancy and petty crimes, for which he was admitted to a reform school. He dropped out of school just before his 17th birthday to join the US Army, which sent him to the Korean War. Upon graduation he began dating Norma Woodle, whom he married at age 21, and they had a daughter in July 1960.
When Bo Hopkins decided to become an actor, his wife left him because she did not agree with the decision, taking their daughter with her. After appearing in a few plays, he received a scholarship to study acting and stage production at the Pioneer Playhouse in Kentucky, and changed his name to Bo Hopkins . “William Hopkins is my real name,” the actor recalled. “Billy when I was a kid. When I went to New York, “Bus Stop” was my first off-Broadway play, and the character I played was called “Bo.” The producers wanted me to change my name, and since I wanted to keep my last name , we agreed to change the first one. That’s how it became ‘Bo’, and I’ve kept it that way.”
After appearing in successful series of the time, such as The Andy Griffith Show, The Virginian or Wild Wild West , the actor William Holden was very impressed by one of Bo Hopkins ‘ works in the theater. He recommended him to filmmaker Sam Peckinpah , who cast him as the volatile Crazy Lee in 1969’s The Wild Bunch . The filmmaker was so pleased with him that he would cast him again for The Getaway , and The Aristocrats of Crime . After The Traffickers, alongside Burt Reynolds , he played one of his best-known roles, that of Joe Young, leader of the Pharaohs youth gang, in American Graffiti , by George Lucas. He returned in the sequel, More American Graffiti , where his great friend Ron Howard also returned , this time promoted to leading man.
Among Bo Hopkins ‘ best-known films are Kirk Douglas ‘s Eden of the West , Alan Parker ‘s The Midnight Express , Oliver Stone ‘s Turn to Hell , and Richard Linklater ‘s The Newton Boys .
In 1989, Bo Hopkins teamed up with Sian Eleanor Green. The couple had a baby – the interpreter’s second child – in 1995. He played his last role in Hillbilly, a country elegy , which he accepted because his former co -star Ron Howard was directing .