- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHerbert Lee Coward
- Nickname
- Cowboy
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward was born on August 21, 1938 in Haywood County, North Carolina, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Deliverance (1972), Ghost Town: The Movie (2007) and Hillbilly Blood (2013). He was married to Dorothy Eileen Ledford. He died on January 24, 2024 in Haywood County, North Carolina, USA.
- SpouseDorothy Eileen Ledford(August 6, 1960 - September 6, 2011) (her death, 4 children)
- When director John Boorman was having trouble finding a talented actor who was also toothless for a key role in Deliverance (1972), co-star Burt Reynolds remembered Coward from having worked with him in a Wild West show in Maggie Valley, NC. Coward--who was not an actor and was toothless and illiterate--arrived for his audition looking so perfect for the part of a rural mountain man that Boorman first thought Reynolds had prompted him on how to dress.
- When director John Boorman explained to Coward that one of the things his character was going to do was to rape a man, Coward replied, "I've done worse."
- Started acting at the Wild West Show called "Ghost Town in the Sky" in Maggie Valley, NC , in 1961. He played a "Grandpappy" who came to town to avenge his son's death. There he confronted the Marshal (Harry Valentine) and Digger the Undertaker, who buried Grandpappy's son. Digger was played by Robert Doyle Teaster. Actor Dean Teaster is Teaster's son. Coward, Harry Valentine and Doyle Teaster acted with Dan Blocker, Tony Dow, Clu Gulager, Paul Fix and Burt Reynolds. "Ghost Town in the Sky" finally closed in 2003. During that time, the above original Ghost Town Gunfighters did live theater in the streets every hour.
- He played one of two sadistic mountain men in John Boorman's 1972 film Deliverance (with Bill McKinney), and several of his lines became infamous in pop culture.
- Coward's performance and physical appearance in Deliverance has provided inspiration for other media, most notably the main character from the Primus video "My Name Is Mud", which also sampled lines from the film.
- I ain't got no education. I can write my name, and that's about all I can do.
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