Actor Herbert “Cowboy” Coward, who gained popularity for his role in “Deliverance,” passed away at the age of 85. In this article, we’ll discuss Herbert Cowboy’s cause of death and obituary announcement.
Herbert Cowboy dies at 85: Cause of death and obituary announcement
Actor Herbert ‘Cowboy’ Coward from “Deliverance” passed away in an incident. According to the North Carolina Highway Patrol, the collision happened at about 3:30 p.m. on U.S. 19/23. Troopers say that after leaving a doctor’s office, Coward was hit by a 16-year-old driver’s pickup truck.
Coward was killed, along with his 78-year-old girlfriend Bertha Brooks, their chihuahua, and Coward’s pet squirrel. The NCSHP claims that speed had no bearing on the collision and that no charges had been filed.
A brief but noteworthy segment of Coward’s was included in John Boorman’s iconic 1972 film “Deliverance.” A group of businessmen canoeing down a remote Georgian river were portrayed in the film by Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Jon Voight, and Burt Reynolds. When they are ambushed by local mountain men in the backcountry, their trip turns into a nightmare.
During the assault, Coward’s character—also known as the “Toothless Man” because he is missing his front teeth—is one of the men who holds several paddlers at gunpoint. One of the most iconic scenes in 1970s film history features the famous line, “He got a real purty mouth, ain’t he?” attributed to Coward.
When both of them were performers at an Old West ghost town amusement park in Maggie Valley, North Carolina—which also happened to be the inspiration for Bonanza’s Dan Blocker—Reynold first learned about Coward in the early 1960s. Coward would later insist that his famous toothless grin was the result of a theme park accident involving a prop gun.
