William Lambert Moseley (born November 11, 1951) is an American actor, primarily known for his performances in horror films. His best-known roles include Chop Top in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), Otis B. Driftwood in Rob Zombie's Firefly trilogy, Luigi Largo in Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), and The Magician in Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival (2015). He had a recurring role as camp cook Possum on the HBO TV series Carnivàle (2003–05). He has also released records with guitarist Buckethead in the band Cornbugs, as well as featuring on the guitarist's solo work.
Early life Moseley was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and grew up in Barrington Hills, Illinois. He is the son of Virginia Gillette (Kleitz), a journalist, and S. D. Moseley (Spencer Dumaresq Moseley), who was a member of the Yale Corporation, All-American captain and center of the 1942 Yale football team, and chairman and chief executive of the Railway Express Agency. His grandfather, George Moseley, also played football at Yale and was an All-American. He is a graduate of Yale University.
For a period of time, Moseley was a journalist, writing for such magazines as Omni, National Lampoon and Psychology Today.
Acting career At the age of 29, Moseley got his first film role in Alan Rudolph's Endangered Species as a cab driver. In 1985's Osa he played a character named "Quilt Face." His third role has become one of his most well known; he appeared as Chop Top in Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, after Tobe Hooper saw him in the independent short, The Texas Chainsaw Manicure. In 2000 he reprised his role as Chop Top in All American Massacre, which was directed by Tobe Hooper's son William, but the film was never released to the public.
Two years after TCM 2, he played Frank in 1988's Mamba. Also in 1988 appeared as a soldier in the remake of the Steve McQueen film The Blob. He next played Darrell in the film Pink Cadillac starring Clint Eastwood. He then played the lead role of Ricky Caldwell in Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!.
In 1990, Moseley appeared in four films: Crash and Burn, The First Power, The End of Innocence, and, playing Johnny, in Tom Savini's remake of George A. Romero's 1968 zombie film, Night of the Living Dead. In 1993, he had a small role in the cult hit Army of Darkness as the Deadite Captain. A year later, he was featured in the video game Corpse Killer. In 1995, he did voiceover work for Anders Jacobsson's horror comedy film Evil Ed.
He would not, however, have another role as popular as Chop Top until 2003, when he starred as the maniacal Otis B. Driftwood (named after Groucho Marx's character from A Night at the Opera) in Rob Zombie's directorial debut House of 1000 Corpses. As Otis, he again became an icon in the horror community. In 2005, he reprised the role of Otis in the sequel The Devil's Rejects and in 2009 he played Otis in a voice cameo in Rob Zombie's animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. Moseley's performance in Rejects inspired an independent campaign for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, which failed. He played in other Rob Zombie films such as Halloween and the Grindhouse fake trailer segment Werewolf Women of the SS.
In 2008, Moseley played the role of Luigi Largo in Repo! The Genetic Opera. In this futuristic, genetic opera, he was able to network with Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy and ohGr, subsequently appearing on ohGr's new album Devils in my Details. He mainly speaks at the beginning or ending of the songs in vivid, poetic rants. He appears on Eyecandy, Feelin' Chicken, Psychoreal, Timebomb, Smogharp, and Witness. Additionally, in 2008, Moseley appeared as a telemarketer in the music video for Combichrist's Sent to Destroy".
Moseley contributed songs to the 2008 soundtrack of Vampira: The Movie, a documentary by Kevin Sean Michaels on Maila Nurmi, in which he also stars. It was released on Collectables Records, a division of Alpha Video.
He appears as Kozlowski in Robert Lieberman's 2009 thriller film The Tortured, and in 2012 played as The Magician in The Devil's Carnival.
Moseley has also provided voice-over recordings for the Florida-based heavy metal band – Generichrist and also British goth-metal band Sinnergod on the track "Overture" which features on their 2013 debut album Seven Deadly Sinphonies.
He later made appearances in Texas Chainsaw 3D and American Exorcist.
In 2019, Moseley appeared in Gothic Harvest with Lin Shaye and Sofia Mattsson, directed by Ashley Hamilton. He also reprised his role as Otis B. Driftwood in 3 from Hell. Horror Fuel magazine reports that Moseley will star in the horror film Jasper alongside Michael Berryman, Kane Hodder and Bill Oberst in 2022.
He starred as, Captain Harris, in all 5 Ice Nine Kills music videos for their 2021 horror film-themed album The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood.
Music career Moseley (as Chop Top) was the lead singer of Cornbugs, a three-man band he had between 1999 and 2007 with avant-garde rock/metal guitarist Buckethead and Deli Creeps' drummer, Pinchface. He also contributed vocal parts to the songs I Come in Peace (as a news reporter) and Onions Unleashed (as Onions) from Buckethead's album Giant Robot (1994) and Jowls from Buckethead's album Monsters and Robots (1999), also as Chop Top.
Moseley, along with Rani Sharone, released albums No Way Down and The Devil Rides West, calling themselves Spider Mountain.
In 2017, Moseley released the album Bill & Phil: Songs of Darkness and Despair with Pantera frontman Philip Anselmo.
In 2021, Moseley collaborated with metal bands Black Tusk and Child Bite on a cover version of the Butthole Surfers song "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" He contributed vocals and appears in the music video.
Personal life Moseley is married to actress Lucinda Jenney, with whom he has a daughter. He previously dated model Lisa Lindsay-Hogg. Moseley and Lindsay-Hogg's daughter, Jane Moseley, is a model, painter and sculptor based in Los Angeles.
In popular culture
A sample of Moseley shouting "dog will hunt!" in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is used in the hit Primus song "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver".
Moseley performed the spoken word intro in the song “Rave” by Pen Name.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1982 Endangered Species Cab Driver1986 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Chop Top Osa Quilt Face1987 Nightmare Angel Dr. William de Freis Short Film1988 The Blob Soldier in Sewer Fair Game Frank1989 Pink Cadillac Darrell Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Ricky Direct-to-video1990 The First Power Bartender Crash and Burn Quinn Direct-to-video The End of Innocence Man on the Hill Night of the Living Dead Johnny1991 White Fang Luke1992 Inside Out 2 Dave Segment: "I've Got a Crush on You" Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Federal Marshal Army of Darkness Deadite Captain1993 Mr. Jones Worker1995 Prehysteria 3! Director Direct-to-video Evil Ed "Loose Limbs" KillerVoice2000 The Convent Officer Ray All American Massacre Bloody Bobby Unreleased2002 Essence of Echoes Dr. Hilcott2003 House of 1000 Corpses Otis B. Driftwood Vicious Walace Direct-to-video2005 The Devil's Rejects Otis B. Driftwood2006 Evil Bong Bong World Patron Fallen Angels Westin Thr3e Slater A Dead Calling Chief Murken Direct-to-video2007 Grindhouse Dr. Heinrich Von Strasser Segment: "Werewolf Women of the SS" Home Sick Mr. Suitcase Halloween Zach 'Z-Man' Garrett2008 A Perfect Place Eddie Short film Babysitter Wanted Chief Dinneli Repo! The Genetic Opera Luigi Largo Alone in the Dark II Dexter Direct-to-video The Alphabet Killer Carl Tanner House Stewart2009 The Devil's Tomb Professor Duncan Direct-to-Video The Haunted World of El Superbeasto Otis DriftwoodVoice Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet Graveyard Gus Dead Air Logan The Graves Caleb 'Cookie' Atwood2010 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams Mayor George W. Buckman Anderson's Cross Mr. Daniels Godkiller: Walk Among Us Dr. WestVoice The Tortured John Kozlowski2011 Spider Mountain: No Way Down Ranger Bill Short, direct-to-video Exit Humanity General Williams Night of the Little Dead Kickstand Short film2012 Rogue River Jon Highway to Hell Lemmas Direct-to-video The Devil's Carnival The Magician The Inflicted Mr. O'Hara Dead Souls Sheriff Depford2013 House of the Witchdoctor Peter Van Hooten Texas Chainsaw 3D Drayton Sawyer2014 Disciples Dread Charlie's Farm John Wilson2015 Almost Mercy Pastor Johnson Old 37 Darryl The Art of Villainy M?ster Nobody Short film Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D JohnnyVoice2016 Smothered Soggy Christian The Devil's Carnival: Alleluia! The Magician Alcoholist Grey Speckled Man The Horde Jacob Sutter Direct-to-video The Possession Experiment Father Mark Campbell Slayer: Pride in Prejudice Nazi Father Short, direct-to-video2017 Death House Giger Boar Bruce2018 Minutes to Midnight Gimple Cynthia Buttercup The Church Pastor James Crepitus Crepitus American Exorcist Mr. Snowfeather2019 Shed of the Dead Doc Exorcism at 60,000 Feet Garvan To Your Last Death Pavel 3 from Hell Otis B. Driftwood In Search of Darkness Himself Documentary Gothic Harvest Detective Hollis Big Top Evil Mr. Kharver Slayer: The Repentless Killogy Nazi Dad2020 I Am Fear Steve Mcreedy In Search of Darkness: Part II Himself Documentary2021 Prisoners of the GhostlandThe Governor2022 Sin EaterFather DunnDead by Midnight (Y2Kill)JasperNite FlirtThe CallerShort Film2023 Hayride to Hell Farmer Sam The Fetus Maddox/Father of AlessaNatty KnocksAbner Honeywell2024They Turned Us Into KillersStreamJimmy
Television Year Title Role Notes1989 Freddy's Nightmares Buzz Episode: "Black Tickets" Tour of Duty Sgt. Jones Episode: "Terms of Enlistment"1991 Father Dowling Mysteries Kane / Larry Webster Episode: "The Priest Killer Mystery"1993 Up All Night Himself Episode: "Vice Academy"; uncredited1994 Blood Run Hank Television film1995 Fallen Angels Customer #1 Episode: "A Dime a Dance"1996 Unsolved Mysteries David Young Episode: #9.92002 Point of Origin Task Force Officer Television film Live from Baghdad Rex Television film2003 The Practice Jake Spooner Episode: "Victims' Rights"2004 ER Charlie Episode: "Forgive and Forget"2003–2005 Carnivàle Possum 8 episodes2007 Days of Our Lives Joel 3 episodes2010–2019 Without Your Head Himself 4 episodes2012–2013 Holliston Crazy Max 5 episodes2014 Z Nation General McCandles Episode: "Full Metal Zombie" Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Bernie Episode: "In Dreams"2015–2017 Adam Green's Scary Sleepover Himself 3 episodes2017 Uncle Grandpa Additional Voices Episode: "Uncle Grandpa's Odd-yssey"2019 Slasher Homeless Guy 2 episodes
Music videos Year Title Role Artist(s) 2021 "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" Himself "Hip to Be Scared" Captain Harris Ice Nine Kills "Assault & Batteries" "Rainy Day" "Funeral Derangements"2022 "The Shower Scene"2023"Welcome to Horrorwood""Meat & Greet"2025 "The Great Unknown" Ludwig von Leberkäse
Video games Year Title Role Notes 2024 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Bones Voice
References
External links
Chop Top's BBQ, Bill Moseley's official site Vampira: The Movie soundtrack featuring Bill Moseley
Interview with Bill Moseley at Eye for Film