Billy Redden

Last updated

Billy Redden (born 1956) is an American actor, best known for his role as a backwoods mountain boy in the 1972 film Deliverance . He played Lonnie, a banjo-playing teenager in north Georgia, who played the noted "Dueling Banjos" with Drew Ballinger (Ronny Cox).

Contents

Early life

Redden was born in Rabun County, Georgia, on October 13, 1956.[ citation needed ]

Career

At the age of fifteen, he was discovered by Lynn Stalmaster, who was scouting for the movie Deliverance . Stalmaster recommended Redden to director John Boorman—though Redden was not an albino child, as Boorman had requested—and Redden was cast. [1]

He portrayed a banjo-playing "local" in the film's famous "dueling banjos" scene. Boorman felt that Redden's skinny frame, large head, and almond-shaped eyes made him the natural choice to play the part of an "inbred from the back woods." Because Redden could not play the banjo, he wore a special shirt that allowed a real banjo player to hide behind him. The scene was then shot with carefully chosen camera angles to conceal the player, whose arms were slipped around Redden's waist to play the tune. [2] The hidden banjo player was shown playing in the bar-fingered "clawhammer" style, while the banjo heard on the soundtrack was played in three-finger "Earl Scruggs" style, using finger picks.

After Deliverance, Redden was cast in Lamberto Bava's 1984 film Blastfighter . The film was recorded in and around Clayton, Georgia, and many people recall it as a mixture of Deliverance and First Blood .

Redden next appeared in Tim Burton's 2003 film Big Fish . Burton was intent on getting Redden, as he wanted him to play the role of a banjo-playing "welcomer" in the utopian town of Spectre. Burton located Redden in Clayton, where he was part-owner of the Cookie Jar Café, and also worked as a cook and dishwasher.

In 2004, Redden made a guest appearance on Blue Collar TV, playing a car repairman named Ray in a "Redneck Dictionary" skit. He represented the word "raisin bread" (as in "Ray's inbred"). He played a banjo in the skit.

In 2009, Redden was cast as a banjo player in Ace Cruz's film Outrage: Born in Terror .

In 2012, 40 years after the release of Deliverance, Redden was interviewed in association with a documentary, The Deliverance of Rabun County (2012). It explored the feelings of people in Rabun County four decades later about the 1972 film. Redden said that though Deliverance was the best thing that happened to him, he never saw much money from the movie:

I'd like to have all the money I thought I'd make from this movie. I wouldn't be working at Walmart right now. And I'm struggling really hard to make ends meet. [3]

Noting some locals objected to the stereotypes in the movie, Redden said that the people in Rabun County were good people:

We're not a bad people up here, we're a loving people. Rabun County is a pretty good town. It's peaceful, not a lot of crime going on, just a real peaceful town. Everybody pretty much gets along with everybody. [3]

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rabun County, Georgia</span> County in Georgia, United States

Rabun County is the north-easternmost county in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,883, up from 16,276 in 2010. The county seat is Clayton. With an average annual rainfall of over 70 inches (1,800 mm), Rabun County has the title of the rainiest county in Georgia and is one of the rainiest counties east of the Cascades. The year 2018 was the wettest on record in the county's history. The National Weather Service cooperative observation station in northwest Rabun's Germany Valley measured 116.48 inches of rain during the year. During 2020, the Germany Valley NWS station reported a yearly precipitation total of 100.19 inches.

<i>Deliverance</i> 1972 film by John Boorman

Deliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapted by James Dickey from his 1970 novel of the same name. The film was a critical and box office success, earning three Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clayton, Georgia</span> City in Georgia, United States

Clayton is a city in Rabun County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 2,003 at the 2020 census. The county seat of Rabun County, it is in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

<i>Zardoz</i> 1974 film by John Boorman

Zardoz is a 1974 science fantasy film written, produced, and directed by John Boorman and starring Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling. It depicts a post-apocalyptic world where barbarians worship the stone idol Zardoz while growing food for a hidden elite, the Eternals. The Brutal Zed becomes curious about Zardoz, and his curiosity forces a confrontation between the two camps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burt Reynolds</span> American actor (1936–2018)

Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture. Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as Gunsmoke (1962–1965), Hawk (1966) and Dan August (1970–1971). Although Reynolds had leading roles in films such as Navajo Joe (1966) and 100 Rifles (1969), his breakthrough role was as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance (1972).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Stanley</span> American bluegrass musician and singer (1927–2016)

Ralph Edmund Stanley was an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing. Stanley began playing music in 1946, originally with his older brother Carter Stanley as part of The Stanley Brothers, and most often as the leader of his band, The Clinch Mountain Boys. He was also known as Dr. Ralph Stanley.

<i>Big Fish</i> 2003 film by Tim Burton

Big Fish is a 2003 American fantasy drama film directed by Tim Burton, and based on the 1998 novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard, Steve Buscemi, and Danny DeVito. The film tells the story of a frustrated son who tries to distinguish fact from fiction in the life of his father, a teller of tall tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Boorman</span> British filmmaker (born 1933)

Sir John Boorman is a British filmmaker. He is best known for directing feature films such as Point Blank (1967), Hell in the Pacific (1968), Deliverance (1972), Zardoz (1974), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Excalibur (1981), The Emerald Forest (1985), Hope and Glory (1987), The General (1998), The Tailor of Panama (2001) and Queen and Country (2014).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ned Beatty</span> American actor (1937–2021)

Ned Thomas Beatty was an American actor. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in Hollywood". His film appearances included Deliverance (1972), White Lightning (1973), All the President's Men (1976), Network (1976), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Back to School (1986), Rudy (1993), Shooter (2007), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Rango (2011). He also had the series regular role of Stanley Bolander in the first three seasons of the hit NBC TV drama Homicide: Life on the Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronny Cox</span> American actor and musician

Daniel Ronald "Ronny" Cox is an American actor, singer and songwriter. His best-known roles include Drew Ballinger in Deliverance (1972), George Apple in Apple's Way (1974–75), Ozark Bule in Bound for Glory (1976), Colonel Kerby in Taps (1981), Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil in Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Dick Jones in RoboCop (1987), Franklin Reed in Family Ties (1986), Vilos Cohaagen in Total Recall (1990), The President in Captain America (1990), Justin in Age of Dinosaurs (2013), Vice President Kinsey in several episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Captain Edward Jellico in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992) as well as in an episode of Star Trek: Prodigy (2022). Cox is also active as a musician, performing over 100 times per year at festivals and theaters each year as of 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chattooga River</span> River in the Southeastern USA

The Chattooga River is the main tributary of the Tugaloo River.

Arthur Smith was an American musician, composer, and record producer, as well as a radio and TV host. He produced radio and TV shows; The Arthur Smith Show was the first nationally syndicated country music show on television. After moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, Smith developed and ran the first commercial recording studio in the Southeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charley Boorman</span> British television presenter, writer and actor

Charley Boorman is a British television presenter, travel writer and actor. A motorbike enthusiast, Boorman has made three long-distance motorcycle rides with his friend Ewan McGregor, documented in Long Way Round (2004), Long Way Down (2007), and Long Way Up (2020).

<i>The General</i> (1998 film) 1998 Irish-British film by John Boorman

The General is an Irish crime film written and directed by John Boorman about Dublin crime boss Martin Cahill, who undertook several daring heists in the early 1980s and attracted the attention of the Garda Síochána, IRA and Ulster Volunteer Force. The film was shot in 1997 and released in 1998. Brendan Gleeson plays Cahill, Adrian Dunbar plays his friend Noel Curley, and Jon Voight plays Inspector Ned Kenny.

Eric Weissberg was an American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist, whose most commercially successful recording was his banjo solo in "Dueling Banjos", featured as the theme of the film Deliverance (1972) and released as a single that reached number 2 in the United States and Canada in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dueling Banjos</span> 1954 musical composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith

"Dueling Banjos" is a bluegrass composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song was composed in 1954 by Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos"; it contained riffs from Smith, recorded in 1955 playing a four-string plectrum banjo and accompanied by five-string bluegrass banjo player Don Reno. The composition's first wide-scale airing was on a 1963 television episode of The Andy Griffith Show called "Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee", in which it is played by visiting musical family the Darlings, along with Griffith himself.

<i>Deliverance</i> (novel) 1970 novel by James Dickey

Deliverance (1970) is the debut novel of American writer James Dickey, who had previously published poetry. It was adapted into the 1972 film of the same name directed by John Boorman.

DeWitt "Snuffy" Jenkins was an American old time banjo player and an early proponent of the three-finger banjo style.

Lynn Arlen Stalmaster was an American casting director. He was noted as the first casting director to be conferred an Academy Award, having received an Honorary Oscar in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Coward</span> American actor (1938–2024)

Herbert Lee "Cowboy" Coward was an American actor. He played one of two sadistic mountain men in John Boorman's 1972 film Deliverance, and several of his lines became infamous in pop culture.

References

  1. ↑ Donahue, Tom, Casting By (DVD), OCLC   945761350
  2. ↑ Potempa, Philip (October 19, 2008). "Burt Reynolds and 'Deliverance' boy reunited ". The Times of Northwest Indiana .
  3. 1 2 Welles, Cory (August 22, 2012). "40 Years Later, Deliverance Causes Mixed Feelings in Georgia". Marketplace. American Public Media.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.