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 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.
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.
Personal life Bolender is also a visual artist, having trained at both the Art Institute of Chicago and the San Francisco School of Fine Arts. Samples of his work can be seen on his website, and on his Instagram.
Filmography
Motion picture credits Year Title Role Notes1988 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 Year Title Role Notes1986 Dallas: The Early Years 4th Player TV movie, Uncredited1987 Uncle Tom's Cabin Trader TV movie1987 The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains Rayford TV movie1988 Pancho Barnes Col. Rand TV movie1989 Dream Date Billie Ray TV movie1990 Challenger Horace Lamberth TV movie1991 In Broad Daylight Frank Snow TV movie1991 Final Verdict Jim Davin TV movie1992 Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life Twister Taylor TV movie1992 Trial: The Price of Passion TV movie1993 Jack Reed: Badge of Honor Stan Howell TV movie1993 Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald George de Mohrenschildt TV movie1994 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine The Albino 1 episode1995 Suspect Device Hank TV movie1995–1998 JAG Captain 'Skipper' Ross 5 episodes1996 Smoke Jumpers Cranshaw TV movie1996 Crime of the Century English-speaking Pastor TV movie1997 Quicksilver Highway Scooter TV movie1997 A Thousand Men and a Baby Gen. Maxwell Taylor TV movie1998 Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack Lenny TV movie1999 Hefner: Unauthorized Glenn Hefner TV movie2000The West WingMan #11 episode2001That's LifeCustomer1 episode2002First MondayMr. Harley1 episode2003–2004AliasOleg Madrczyk2 episodes2004DeadwoodArtie Simpson1 episode2005CSI: MiamiRalph Windham1 episode2005SurfaceOld Man1 episode2006Desperate HousewivesProperty Manager1 episode2006Avatar: The Last AirbenderSha-Mo1 episode2007–2008ERHank Riley2 episodes2009Cold CaseMike 'Monkey' Mack '091 episode2010Pair of Kings1 episode2011GreekTelevangelist1 episode2015Faking It1 episode2016–2017BoschDean2 episodes
References
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