Deliverance actor Herbert Coward dies in crash aged 85

Herbert Coward, known for his Toothless Man role in the movie Deliverance, has died in a crash on a North Carolina highway at the age of 85.

The crash happened on Wednesday afternoon as Coward and Bertha Brooks, 78, left a doctor’s appointment, North Carolina Highway Patrol Sergeant MJ Owens said on Thursday.

Coward pulled out on to US Route 19 in front of a pick-up truck, which hit his car, Mr Owens said.

Coward and Brooks, as well as a chihuahua and pet squirrel, were killed.

Coward, who lived in Haywood County, was famous locally for having the pet squirrel, he said.

The 16-year-old driver of the truck was taken to hospital as a precaution. Authorities do not believe speed or distraction were factors in the crash, Mr Owens said.

Coward had a small but memorable role in John Boorman’s 1972 classic Deliverance.

The film starred Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox as a group of businessmen canoeing down a river in remote Georgia. Their adventure turns into a backwoods nightmare when local mountain men assault them.

Coward’s character, known as the Toothless Man for his missing front teeth, is one of the men who hold several of the paddlers at gunpoint during the assault.

Coward became the face of one of the most infamous scenes in 1970s cinema, contributing the line: “He got a real purty mouth, ain’t he?”