Deliverance ‘toothless man’ unrecognisable but still can’t read after years in Hollywood

One Deliverance star looks totally different more than half a century after shooting to fame as the ‘toothless mountain man’ in the 1972 classic.

Herbert ‘Cowboy’ Coward played one of the two hillbillies who terrorise a group of four city-slicker pals, headed for a canoeing trip in the backwoods.

In a horrific moment, one of the men brutally rapes Ned Beatty’s character Bobby, leading to the harrowing ‘squeal, piggy, squeal’ scene that had viewers thoroughly chilled.

READ MORE: Deliverance ‘inbred banjo kid’ unrecognisable 50 years later after quitting showbiz

The other – said toothless man – stood idly by, watching it happen.

Cowboy delivered one of the film’s most iconic lines: “He got a real purty mouth, ain’t he?”

Now the star looks incredibly different – sporting a huge grey beard that’s a far cry from the dark stubble his character sported in Deliverance.

With thick dark eyebrows and short hair on top, Cowboy sported classic denim dungarees and a checked shirt for the film’s 50th anniversary last year.

And in an interview with ABC 13, he was accompanied by his pet squirrel, Cowgirl.

He told the publication: “Cowgirl is a good girl, she’s a real companion to me. I’ve always had a way with squirrels, and she took right up with me.

“She minds good, she goes to church with me; I trim her toenails.”

Despite being an actor for several decades, Cowboy can’t read or write anything except his own name.

He explained that to learn his lines, he’d have someone say them into a tape recorder so he could listen to it back.

And he got the part in Deliverance in a very unusual way, telling ABC: “When the producer come in and asked me, ‘is that as mad as you can act?’ when he said that, I grabbed him by collar and knocked him against the wall.

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“Then he said, ‘You’ve got the part!’”

The star is still in contact with Billy Redden, who played Lonnie – the ‘inbred banjo boy’, in Deliverance.

And aside from his iconic role in the backwoods horror, Cowboy has continued acting – starring in everything from Ghost Town: The Movie to Hillbilly Blood.

His last role came in 2021 series Moonshiners, in which he played himself.

Now aged 84, Cowboy is slowing down a little, and he underwent a knee replacement surgery last year. But he’s staying positive.

The North Carolina native said: “I want people to remember that I’ve been good to everybody.

“I enjoy life the best I can. The way I look at it, the Lord’s been good to me.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk