After looking it up, I discovered that the actor who played Floyd, the hotel desk clerk, was Burton Gilliam, who I only happen to know from his brief role in Back to the Future III. I'm 22 years old, obviously born after Paper Moon was made, and just saw the movie for the first time. I'm wondering if anyone other than myself assumed that Floyd was played by a very young Billy Bob Thornton. The resembence is remarkable.
shareI just watched it last night too, and while I didn't see the BBT resemblance, I did think the Burton Gilliam did a memorable job with that role.
What a great movie it is!
I had him spotted right away as Lyle from "Blazing Saddles."
shareITA, he really stood out in that small role. I thought of a young John Ritter myself.
shareI love Burton Gilliam. He's hilarious in Paper Moon and in Blazing Saddles. I could see where Billy Bob could look like Gilliam at times, like in Intolerable Cruelty.
shareBurton Gilliam has done commercials for a local car dealership in Memphis.
shareUnless my memory's playing tricks on me, I seem to recall seeing him acting as referee for a boxing match or two on TV.
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When I saw him in Blazing Saddles, I thought he was the guy that played Eb on Green Acres. Obviously, I was mistaken.
shareWhat's hilarious about Burton Gilliam is if you've ever seen the movie The Getaway (remake) with Kim Bassinger and Alec Baldwin, Gilliam plays a hotel desk clerk in an old dusty hotel just like he did in the movie Paper Moon. I have the tape and every time I see him, I bust out laughing and think, 'he played a hotel desk clerk in Paper Moon'!
"This is a man's world"--James Brown
Also, played the Head Elvis of the Flying Evises in 'Honey Moon in Vegas' He's sort of a latter day Slim Pickens and is great! I thought he was Slim Pickens as the desk clerk but was a little too yung for Slim in '73! Did appear together in Blazing Saddles.
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He's a great character actor. It's a shame that Hollywood is so fickle. We get the same damn stars over and over again. The same stars that are A-list today were A-list 10 years ago.
"I learned to love myself unconditionally because I am a queen."
--India Arie
Burton appears in Dairy Queen and used car commercials now -- in the Dallas-Fort Worth market...
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It's good that he's still in the acting game at least. Hollywood needs more competition, and a lot of actors are doing Indie films now, which is a good thing because a lot of them include actors that aren't high profile and seen all the damn time like in Hollywood films.
"I want to be the one in control"-Janet Jackson
He is also funny as the airline mechanic in Fletch.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. Samuel Beckett
"He is also funny as the airline mechanic in Fletch. "
THAT'S where I saw him!
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"Love means never having to say you're ugly." - the Abominable Dr. Phibes
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Blazing Saddles is his most memorable role. His greatest claim to fame is to be the first actor in the history of Hollywood to break wind on screen.
shareAt first i thought he was fred ward
shareIn late 1972 when "Paper Moon" was filmed, Billy Bob Thornton was only seventeen years old. It was Burton Gilliam's first movie role, and he was thirty-four years old. In addition to many film and tv roles, he appeared in several Pace Picante Sauce tv commercials. He is still acting, at the age of eighty-three.
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