With his pleasing South Carolina twang, Bo Hopkins almost made the character of the Pharaohs’ gang leader Joe Young a likable sort-of guy. Throughout the classic film American Graffiti, he acts as a menace to poor Curt Henderson, played by Richard Dreyfuss – first just picking on him, then trying to initiate him into the gang. Although this is the most notable of Hopkins’ many roles to me, he had quite a few other memorable parts in other films.
For instance, you might recall him as “Crazy” Lee in The Wild Bunch. It was from this film that the photo above came, which I had Bob obtain for me at one of the Hollywood Collectors Shows of the late 1990’s. He also had parts in such films as White Lightning, Midnight Express, and naturally More American Graffiti, the vastly inferior follow-up to the original film. He worked extensively in television as well, with a recurring role in The Rockford Files, and guest shots in such shows as Gunsmoke, Charlie’s Angels, The A-Team, and Fantasy Island – just to name a small smattering.
After having the above signed photo as well as the American Graffiti poster 8×10 for about ten years, I finally got to meet Bo Hopkins when he appeared at the Chicago Hollywood Celebrities Show on October 17, 2009. Our meeting was somewhat humorous as my Mom could not manage to get a good photo of us with the light shining behind us. He had been kind enough to pose for free, so I didn’t want to push it by asking him to move.
White Lightning pours in the window as we attempt our first photo
The awkwardness continues with photo #2
But being a nice guy, he himself finally suggested it after we had failed so miserably with the first two shots. Once we had relocated and obtained an acceptable photo, I pulled out one of my ‘Bob-quotes’ and said that we could have remade the movie in the time that it took to get the photo. He laughed. I made the head of the Pharaohs laugh.
This one wasn’t bad, so not sure why we tried yet again
Fourth time was the charm…then I made my wisecrack
Celebrities from the Chicago show will continue…
That’s great. To me, he will always be “John Cooper” – the de-barred lawyer who had a recurring role on “The Rockford Files.”
Peter
November 7th, 2009
I met him the following day and found him to be the most friendly person at the show.
Dave Chasteen
November 7th, 2009
That’s great. To me, he will always be “John Cooper” – the de-barred lawyer who had a recurring role on “The Rockford Files.”
Mizanur Rahaman
November 22nd, 2018