Joe Turkel

Turkel was born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York to Polish-Jewish immigrants.[1] When he was 16 years old, he joined the United States Army and served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.

Turkel's first film appearance was 1948's City Across the River. Other film appearances include Bert I. Gordon's The Boy and the Pirates as Abu the Genie and Tormented (both 1960); as a gangster-sidekick in The Purple Gang; a prisoner of war named “Dino” in the 1965 POW movie King Rat; The Sand Pebbles (1966) as Bronson; The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) as Chicago gangster Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik; and the 1990 horror feature The Dark Side of the Moon.

On November 13, 1956, Turkel appeared on the television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp as Jim Rellance, a young Texas cowhand who is infatuated with Dora Hand, a dance hall singer in Dodge City, Kansas.

Turkel's other television appearances include Sky King (in the 1957 episode "Mystery Horse"), Frontier Doctor, Bat Masterson, U.S. Marshal, The Asphalt Jungle, Mackenzie's Raiders, Kojak, Tales from the Darkside, and Miami Vice (in the episode "Indian Wars").

Turkel appeared on Bonanza three times, including the 1961 episode "The Many Faces of Gideon Flinch", playing one of two of Bullet Head Burke's right-hand men.

Turkel's more famous roles are Dr. Eldon Tyrell, the android manufacturer in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982),[2] and Lloyd, the ghostly bartender in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980).[3]

He is one of only two actors (the other being Philip Stone) to work with Kubrick as a credited character three times: in The Killing (1956, as Tiny),[4] in Paths of Glory (1957, as Private Arnaud),[5] and in The Shining (1980, as Lloyd).

In 1999, he lived in Southern California and wrote screenplays.[6]

He said in a 2014 interview that Paths of Glory was his favorite among his films.[7]

When he attended a 2011 rally in Occupy Seattle,[8] he referred to himself as a "Liberal Progressive Democrat".

• Joe Turkel at IMDb