[7][6] His other film appearances include Bert I. Gordon's The Boy and the Pirates as Abu the Genie, Tormented as Nick (both 1960), and Village of the Giants (1965) as the sheriff;[7] as a gangster-sidekick in The Purple Gang (1959);[8] a prisoner of war named "Dino" in the 1965 POW movie King Rat;[7] The Sand Pebbles (1966) as Bronson; The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) as Chicago gangster Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik;[8] and the 1990 horror feature The Dark Side of the Moon.

[7] He also appeared on Bonanza three times,[7] including the 1961 episode "The Many Faces of Gideon Flinch", playing one of two of Bullet Head Burke's right-hand men.

[12] Turkel's best known roles are Lloyd, the ghostly bartender in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980)[13] and Dr. Eldon Tyrell, the android manufacturer in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982).

The other appearances were in The Killing (1956, as Tiny),[15] and in Paths of Glory (1957, as Private Arnaud),[16] He retired from acting after reprising his role of Eldon Tyrell in the 1997 Blade Runner video game.

[20][non-primary source needed] On June 27, 2022, Turkel died at the age of 94 from liver failure at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.