Bill Bolender

Bill Bolender
Born (1940-11-14) November 14, 1940 (age 83)
Chicago
Years active1986–present

Bill Bolender is an American character actor and artist, mainly known for small appearances in RoboCop 2, JFK, Reality Bites, The Shawshank Redemption, Nixon and Dante's Peak.

His guest starring appearances include roles in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.; Walker, Texas Ranger; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (as an Albino alien in the episode "Blood Oath"); NYPD Blue; Alias; Deadwood; and in the Desperate Housewives episode "No One Is Alone". He also had a recurring role as Captain Ross in JAG.

Career

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Bolender played a small but important role in The Shawshank Redemption as Elmo Blatch, the violent convict who Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) discovers may actually be to blame for the murders of which he was convicted.[1]

Bolender has continued to work as an actor over the past few decades, appearing in the 2018 Nicolas Cage thriller Looking Glass, and in the recurring role of Dean in the Prime Video crime series Bosch (sharing credits with Shawshank co-star Mark Rolston). He appeared in a 2015 episode of the MTV series Faking It and was also a guest-star on an episode of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender as Sha-Mo.[1][2]

Personal life

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Bolender is also a visual artist, having trained at both the Art Institute of Chicago and the San Francisco School of Fine Arts.[3] Samples of his work can be seen on his website, and on his Instagram.[1]

Filmography

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Motion picture credits

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Year Title Role Notes
1988 D.O.A. Nick Lang Sr.
1988 Paramedics Dying Man
1988 It Takes Two Judd Rogers
1988 Il nido del ragno Chancellor Hubbard
1989 Ninth Life Ray
1990 Black Snow Grimes
1990 RoboCop 2 Cabbie
1991 JFK Prisoner Powell
1992 Bonnie & Clyde: The True Story Farmer Jones
1994 Reality Bites Truck Driver
1994 Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II Pvt. Richards
1994 The Shawshank Redemption Elmo Blatch
1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead Stevie's Dad
1995 Midnight Man Randy
1995 Wild Bill Bartender at Way Station
1995 Nixon Bethesda Doctor
1996 Infinity Isadore Rabi
1997 Dante's Peak Sheriff Turner
1998 The Commissioner Arthur Groom
1998 Overdrive Jim Bryant
1999 The Settlement Shamansky
2003 Rose's (aka Confessions of a Florist) Mr. Matinez
2018 Looking Glass Ben

Television credits

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Year Title Role Notes
1986 Dallas: The Early Years 4th Player TV movie, Uncredited
1987 Uncle Tom's Cabin Trader TV movie
1987 The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains Rayford TV movie
1988 Pancho Barnes Col. Rand TV movie
1989 Dream Date Billie Ray TV movie
1990 Challenger Horace Lamberth TV movie
1991 In Broad Daylight Frank Snow TV movie
1991 Final Verdict Jim Davin TV movie
1992 Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life Twister Taylor TV movie
1992 Trial: The Price of Passion TV movie
1993 Jack Reed: Badge of Honor Stan Howell TV movie
1993 Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald George de Mohrenschildt TV movie
1994 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine The Albino 1 episode
1995 Suspect Device Hank TV movie
1995–1998 JAG Captain 'Skipper' Ross 5 episodes
1996 Smoke Jumpers Cranshaw TV movie
1996 Crime of the Century English-speaking Pastor TV movie
1997 Quicksilver Highway Scooter TV movie
1997 A Thousand Men and a Baby Gen. Maxwell Taylor TV movie
1998 Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack Lenny TV movie
1999 Hefner: Unauthorized Glenn Hefner TV movie
2000 The West Wing Man #1 1 episode
2001 That's Life Customer 1 episode
2002 First Monday Mr. Harley 1 episode
2003–2004 Alias Oleg Madrczyk 2 episodes
2004 Deadwood Artie Simpson 1 episode
2005 CSI: Miami Ralph Windham 1 episode
2005 Surface Old Man 1 episode
2006 Desperate Housewives Property Manager 1 episode
2006 Avatar: The Last Airbender Sha-Mo 1 episode
2007–2008 ER Hank Riley 2 episodes
2009 Cold Case Mike 'Monkey' Mack '09 1 episode
2010 Pair of Kings 1 episode
2011 Greek Televangelist 1 episode
2015 Faking It 1 episode
2016–2017 Bosch Dean 2 episodes

References

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  1. ^ a b c Stevenson, Rick (2023-01-28). "Where Is The Cast Of The Shawshank Redemption Today?". Looper. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  2. ^ "Bill Bolender (visual voices guide) - Behind the Voice Actors". behindthevoiceactors.com. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  3. ^ Heimberg, Martha (February 2, 2020). "TheaterJones | Q&A: Bill Bolender | Ochre House Theater". Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
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