'Banjo Boy' from Deliverance looks unrecognisable decades after quitting showbiz

24 July 2023 , 22:04

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Banjo Boy, real name Billy Redden, made a famous appearance in Deliverance

Movie buffs will remember the banjo kid from the beginning of the 1972 thriller Deliverance, but wouldn't be able to recognise him now.

The banjo kid, real name Lonnie in the film, was played by Billy Redden who was 15 years old at the time of filming.

Now Billy is 66 years old and he left the world of Hollywood behind. Billy wasn't a trained actor when he was hired for Deliverance, he was just a local of Rabun County in Georgia where the film was made.

He also couldn't play the banjo, the instrument his character became famous for. During filming, Billy had to wear a special shirt that let an actual banjo player slip his arms through to make it look like Billy was actually playing the instrument.

Billy couldn't play the banjo and had a special shirt made so it would look like he played it (Unknown)

In the film, Billy's character Lonnie plays "Dueling Banjos," a 1954 song composed by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, with the character Drew, played by Ronnie Cox. It seems like the duel is playful, with locals dancing to the music. At the end of the song, Drew tries to shake Lonnie's hand but the latter doesn't acknowledge him.

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The film starred the aforementioned Ronnie Cox plus Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Jon Voight as they canoe into the Georgia wilderness and face Southern locals with deadly results.

The "Dueling Banjos" scene has become iconic in cinema and has leading to a lawsuit because the film did not get Smith's permission to use the song. The version that appeared on the soundtrack was performed by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell.

Billy Redden says the people in his town are nothing like those in the movie (Getty Images for Film Independent)

Billy took on odd jobs including one at Walmart (Billy Redden)

Billy leaned into his character for a few years, conducting trips down the Chattooga River for tourists flocking to the area after watching the blockbuster movie.

He also appeared with a banjo in other movies afterward, such as Big Fish and Blastfighter. The last time he ventured into acting was in 2009, so he took on a few odd jobs to pay the bills.

Billy worked various positions including working at Walmart and as a dishwasher. But he did make an appearance in a 2012 documentary titled, The Deliverance of Rabun County where he defended that his town and its people were nothing like the locals in the famous movie.

"We're not a bad people up here, we're a loving people. Rabun County is a pretty good town," Billy said in the film, "Everybody pretty much gets along with everybody."

Tatiana Krisztina