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Bo Hopkins (centre) with Burt Reynolds in The Man Who Made the Cats Dance (1973): Compact body, square face
Photo: United Archives / kpa Publicity / imago images / United Archives
He was discovered for the cinema by the director Sam Peckinpah, who staged the subject of violence with explicit images in his westerns and detective stories.
The first character Bo Hopkins played for Peckinpah had the descriptive name "Crazy Lee" that was in the western classic The Wild Bunch (1969).
A number of other violent characters followed, which he played for the director - such as alongside Steve McQueen in »The Getaway« (1972) and alongside James Caan in »The Killer Elite« (1976).
Hopkins also appeared in significant supporting roles in a number of other New Hollywood classics.
He was in George Lucas' coming-of-age drama »American Graffiti« (1973) or in John Schlesinger's film industry navel-gazing »The Day of the Locust« (1975).
However, he kept returning to westerns, where directors and producers tended to place him on the morally dubious side of the character tableaus with his compact body and angular face: in 1970 he starred alongside Lee Marvin in »Monte Walsh«, and in 1973 alongside Burt Reynolds in The Man Who Made the Cats Dance.
Hopkins' B-movie fame, acquired in the 1970s, was later paid tribute by a number of star directors: Oliver Stone brought him on board in 1997 for his film »U-Turn«, Richard Linklater in 1998 for »The Newton Boys«.
Hopkins had a slightly larger role in the 1999 horror western From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money.
In early May, Hopkins suffered a heart attack.
On Friday he died as a result, as his wife confirmed to the industry service "Hollywood Reporter".
He was 84 years old.
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