Career
In 1959, he played Homer McCauley, the dramatic lead, in a television adaptation of William Saroyan's novel, The Human Comedy, production narrated by Burgess Meredith.
Also in 1959, Pollard, at twenty, appeared in the episode "The Unknown Town" of David Hedison's 16-segment NBC espionage series, Five Fingers.
Pollard created the non-singing role of Hugo Peabody in the Original Broadway cast of the 1960 musical comedy Bye Bye Birdie (lyrics by Lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse). Hugo is a high-school student, boyfriend of Kim McAfee (played by Susan Watson on Broadway), who becomes jealous of Kim's infatuation with rock star Conrad Birdie. In the 1963 film version, Hugo became a singing role and was played by Bobby Rydell.
In 1967, he played the supporting role of C. W. Moss in Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde alongside Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, and Estelle Parsons, for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor and won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. The role led to his joke candidacy for president (see below).
In 1969, he played the supporting role of "Packy", an escaped American POW, in the WWII themed "Hannibal Brooks".
In 1970, he had a starring role as Little Fauss in the cult motorcycle racing movie Little Fauss and Big Halsy with Robert Redford, Noah Beery Jr., Lucille Benson, and Lauren Hutton.
Pollard has continued to work in film and television into the 21st century, including his appearance as "Stucky" in the 2003 Rob Zombie directed cult classic House of 1000 Corpses.