'A real purty mouth': Infamous 'Deliverance' actor reflects on film's 50th anniversary

The mountains of Western North Carolina have set the stage for many feature films – including the chilling 1972 classic “Deliverance."

Several scenes from the drama/thriller were shot in the region, and some of the actors were locals. In fact, one of the movie’s most notorious characters, the ‘Toothless Man’, played by Herbert ‘Cowboy’ Coward, calls Haywood County home.

July 30 marks the movie’s 50th anniversary, and ‘Cowboy’ took the opportunity to reflect on his acting days.

“He got a real purty mouth, ain’t he?” — it’s one of the most infamous lines from the movie, and it came from Cowboy.

Clad in overalls, with his pet squirrel, ‘Cowgirl’, by his side, the retired actor still looks the part, five decades following the movie’s release.

Cowgirl is a good girl, she’s a real companion to me,” Cowboy said. “I’ve always had a way with squirrels, and she took right up with me.”

Wardrobe aside – Cowboy couldn’t be further from his character.

“Your daddy loves you; you know it?” Coward coos to the squirrel. “She minds good, she goes to church with me; I trim her toenails.”

Cowboy got his acting start at Ghost Town in the Sky, where he performed daily shoot-outs at the wild-west themed amusement park. It’s also where he got his nickname – but it’s likely not what you’re thinking. Cowboy helped build the park, and to his boss’ benefit, was a pro at operating bulldozers.

“I was working on pretty heavy equipment for $18 and $20, that’s big money for back then,” he said. “I’d run them, and he’d say, ride ‘em, cowboy!”

The name stuck and when Ghost Town held auditions for actors, Cowboy saddled up.

“I pulled out a hammer and I said, ‘I’m a gunfighter’, and they said, ‘yes you are!” He said. “I did that for several, several years.”

At a dollar a day, the pay was low and the risk high; Cowboy performed all his own stunts.

“I got shot one time for real and I had my teeth knocked out with a pistol up there; my two front teeth,” Cowboy said. “It was a pretty exciting place to work.”

His big break came thanks to then-budding actor, Burt Reynolds, who also worked at the Maggie Valley mountainside attraction.

“Burt called me and he said, 'you need to come over here, come over here and work,'” Cowboy recalled.

His “Deliverance” audition was about as rough as the character he played.

When the producer come in and asked me, ‘is that as mad as you can act?’ when he said that, I grabbed him by the collar and knocked him against the wall,” Cowboy said. “Then he said, ‘you’ve got the part!’”

Alongside Bill McKinney, Cowboy gave life to one of the most disturbing scenes in Hollywood history – leaving many with nightmares to this day.

“If you’ve ever done any prayin’ you better pray now,” Cowboy recalled another eerie line from the scene.

Cowboy’s days playing the villain didn’t end there. He also appeared in “Ghost Town: The Movie” and “Hillbilly Blood." The acting came naturally, Cowboy said, but reading the script not so much. To this day, he has never learned to read or write.

“I write my name and that’s it,” Cowboy said.

Learning his lines took a little extra work.

“I had a little old tape recorder they’d put on what mine was and I’d listen to it in the headphones,” Cowboy said.

During the interview, Cowboy’s new cellphone started ringing. He picked up the phone nonchalantly after the device announced who was calling.

“Yeah, Billy?” He answered.

It was Billy Redden. Redden played Lonnie, the infamous banjo-playing mountain boy in “Deliverance." He was 13 at the time. Redden and Cowboy are two of the few surviving “Deliverance” cast members.

Just before Burt Reynolds died in 2018, Cowboy went to visit him.

Me and Burt talked about old times,” Cowboy said. “He said he only had three friends in his whole acting career and I was one of them. I had a lot of memories with Burt.”

Cowboy’s acting days may be behind him, but he is very much still a character – with a penchant for pranks! (Cue the casket sitting in his front room.)

“It’s got a good pillow and a nice mattress in it,” Cowboy said with a chuckle.

He doesn’t plan to be buried in it but said he couldn’t pass up a good deal, and he’s gotten his money’s worth by scaring unsuspecting guests.

I’d get in the casket and raise the lid open and I’d shoot up and say, ‘can’t a dead man get no rest?’ you know?” Cowboy asked, laughing.

The 83-year-old’s antics have since subsided as he recovers from a knee replacement. He said he’s looking forward to his upcoming birthday and plans to celebrate with friends. It might surprise people to learn the man known for his terrifying performances is caring and soft-hearted and he wants his legacy to reflect that.

“[I want people to remember] that I’ve been good to everybody,” Cowboy said. “I enjoy life the best I can. The way I look at it, the Lord’s been good to me.”

No more hillbilly horrors in the making for Cowboy, just a peaceful retirement in the backwoods of Haywood County.