Billy Redden

Billy Redden was a typical local teen living in Georgia, handpicked by director John Boorman for the role of an odd banjo player in the Oscar-nominated classic Deliverance (1972). To Boorman, Redden had the exact look of a country boy, the mannerisms, and something different from the usual qualities needed for a part that could be suitable only for someone who wasn't trained as an actor: a nonspeaking part in one sequence in which he makes a banjo duel against Ronny Cox. The sequence turned out to be one of the highest points of the thriller--and one of the most memorable moments of cinema.

Some facts about the scene are that Redden did not know how to play the banjo, so another teenager was his hand double in the song "Dueling Banjos" while in the soundtrack, Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell were the musicians performing the song. And the sequence asked for Billy's character to show a complete state of contempt for Cox's character (his on-screen rival), but he couldn't act in such way with the actor because he was very fond of him. On the other hand, he had a complete dislike for Ned Beatty, so the trick the director used for getting the exact reaction in the shot was to put Beatty next to Cox to make Billy react with disgust and dead-on facial expressions toward Beatty. The rest was all accomplished in the editing room.

After the exposition in Deliverance (1972), Redden vanished from the screen but became a tourist guide for people who wanted to visit the filming locations. He returned to acting in Blastfighter (1984), where he also played a banjo player, a trademark of his in his subsequent films such as a cameo in Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003) and Outrage: Born in Terror (2009). By the time he appeared in Big Fish (2003), he was working at a cafe near the film location.