American actor Charles Dierkop, best known for his appearances in The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Police Woman, died on Sunday, Deadline reported. He was 87.
Dierkop had a heart attack and contracted pneumonia. The Wisconsin-born character actor began his career in an uncredited appearance opposite Paul Newman in The Hustler. He appeared beside him as Flat Nose Curry in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and as a bodyguard in the Best Picture Oscar-winning 1973 film The Sting. Star Trek, Batman, Adam-12, It Takes a Thief, Love, American Style, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Mannix, Kung Fu, The F.B.I., and The Andy Griffith Show, all gave him constant work in television.
He would reteam with Newman and Hill once more in the Oscar best picture winner The Sting (1973), this time playing Floyd, the bodyguard who serves as protection for Robert Shaw’s crime boss Doyle Lonnegan.
Dierkop also appeared in two episodes of the Joseph Wambaugh-created NBC drama Police Story, the second as Det. Pete Royster on March 1974’s The Gamble, which served as the de facto pilot for Police Woman, a spinoff of Police Story.
His 1980s and ’90s work included guest roles on such popular series as Simon & Simon, The Fall Guy, T.J. Hooker, Matt Houston and MacGyver. Dierkop also appeared in a number of B-movies well into the 2000s. His last credited role was in the 2018 film Heaven & Hell.
Dierkop is survived by his daughter, Lynn.