Bill Paxton

William Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. A versatile character actor known for his distinctive Texan drawl and everyman screen persona, he was a four-time Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nominee, among other accolades.

Paxton starred in films '' Near Dark'' (1987), ''Tombstone'' (1993), ''Apollo 13'' (1995), ''Twister'' (1996), '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1998), and '' A Simple Plan'' (1998), and played supporting roles in '' Weird Science'' (1985), '' Edge of Tomorrow'' (2014), and '' Nightcrawler'' (2014). He was a close collaborator of director James Cameron, appearing in his films ''The Terminator'' (1984), '' Aliens'' (1986), ''True Lies'' (1994), and ''Titanic'' (1997). He made his directorial debut with the 2001 horror film ''Frailty'', in which he also starred, earning him Saturn Award nominations for Best Director and Best Horror Film.

On television, Paxton starred as Bill Henrickson on the HBO drama series ''Big Love'' (2006–2011), for which he earned three Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Television Series Drama during the show's run. He was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for portraying Randall McCoy in the History Channel miniseries '' Hatfields & McCoys'' (2012).

Early life

William Paxton was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 17, 1955, the son of Mary Lou ( ''née'' Gray; 1926–2016) and John Lane Paxton (1920–2011). His mother was a Catholic who raised him and his siblings in her faith. His father was a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and (during his son's career) an occasional actor, notably appearing in Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man'' films as Bernard Houseman and alongside Paxton in '' A Simple Plan'' (1998). His great-great-grandfather was Elisha Franklin Paxton (1828–1863), a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War who was killed commanding the Stonewall Brigade at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Paxton is distantly related to actress Sara Paxton and was the great-nephew of Mary Paxton Keeley, a prominent journalist and close friend of Bess Truman. At the age of eight, he was in the crowd when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth on the morning of his assassination on November 22, 1963. Photographs of Paxton being lifted above the crowd are on display at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He later co-produced the film '' Parkland'' about the assassination. He graduated from Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth in 1973, after which he studied at Richmond College in London, alongside his old high-school friend Danny Martin. There, they met fellow Texas native Tom Huckabee, with whom they made Super 8 short films for which they built their own sets. One of Paxton's first lead roles was in Huckabee's experimental film '' Taking Tiger Mountain''. Paxton subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where he worked in props and art departments and as a parking valet at the Beverly Hills Hotel. After being rejected by film schools in Southern California, he switched his ambitions from directing to acting.

Career

Acting and filmmaking

Among Paxton's earliest roles were as a mortuary assistant in ''Mortuary'' (1983), a minor role as a punk in ''The Terminator'' (1984), a minor role as a bartender in '' Streets of Fire'', a supporting role as the lead protagonist's bullying older brother Chet Donnelly in John Hughes's '' Weird Science'' (1985), and Private William Hudson in '' Aliens'' (1986).

He directed several short films, including the music video for Barnes & Barnes's novelty song " Fish Heads", which aired during ''Saturday Night Live''s low-rated 1980–81 season and was in heavy rotation during the early days of Canadian music channel MuchMusic. He was cast in a music video for the 1982 Pat Benatar song " Shadows of the Night" in which he appeared as a Nazi radio officer.

In 1981, Paxton worked in the movie '' Stripes'' as a soldier, in the bar scene with John Candy and Bill Murray.

He worked alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in ''The Terminator'' (1984) and in ''Commando'' (1985), as well as in ''True Lies'' (1994), which reunited him with James Cameron. He reunited with Cameron on '' Aliens'' (1986). His performance in the latter film as Private Hudson earned him the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He also appeared in '' Weird Science'' (1985). In 1987, Paxton played the most psychotic of the vampires, Severen, in Kathryn Bigelow's critically acclaimed neo-Western horror film '' Near Dark''.

In 1990, Paxton appeared in ''Predator 2'' (1990). He collaborated with James Cameron again on ''Titanic'' (1997), which was the highest-grossing film of all time at its release. In his other roles, Paxton played Morgan Earp in ''Tombstone'' (1993), Fred Haise in ''Apollo 13'' (1995), Bill Harding in ''Twister'' (1996), and lead roles in dark dramas such as ''One False Move'' (1992) and '' A Simple Plan'' (1998). In 1990, he co-starred with Charlie Sheen and Michael Biehn in ''Navy Seals''.

Paxton also appeared in ''Indian Summer'' (1993) and '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1998). After 2000, he appeared in '' U-571'' (2000), '' Vertical Limit'' (2000), '' Frailty'' (2001), '' Broken Lizard's Club Dread'' (2004), '' Thunderbirds'' (2004), '' Edge of Tomorrow'' (2014) and '' Nightcrawler'' (2014).

Paxton directed the feature films '' Frailty'' (2001), in which he also starred, and ''The Greatest Game Ever Played'' (2005). Four years after appearing in ''Titanic'', he joined Cameron on an expedition to the wreck of the ''Titanic''. A film about this trip, ''Ghosts of the Abyss'', was released in 2003. He also appeared in the music video for Limp Bizkit's 2003 song " Eat You Alive" as a sheriff. In addition, Paxton also played a character in both '' Spy Kids 2'' and '' Spy Kids 3-D''.

Paxton starred in "A Bright Shining Lie" (HBO 1998), an American war drama television film written and directed by Terry George, based on Neil Sheehan's 1988 book of the same name and the true story of John Paul Vann's experience in the Vietnam War.

His highest-profile television performances received much positive attention, including his lead role in HBO's ''Big Love'' (2006–2011), for which Paxton received three Golden Globe Award nominations. He also received positive reviews for his performance in the History Channel's miniseries '' Hatfields & McCoys'' (2012), for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award alongside co-star Kevin Costner.

In 2014, he played the role of the villainous John Garrett in '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'', and a supporting role in '' Edge of Tomorrow'' (2014). He starred alongside Jon Bernthal, Rose McGowan and John Malkovich as a playable character in the 2014 video game '' Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare'' (downloadable "Exo Zombies" mode). Paxton starred as General Sam Houston in the Western miniseries '' Texas Rising'' for The History Channel in 2015.
In February 2016, Paxton was cast as Detective Frank Rourke for ''Training Day'', a crime-thriller television series set 15 years after the events of the eponymous 2001 movie. It premiered a year later. His final film appearance was in '' The Circle'' (2017), released two months after his death.

Music

In 1982, Paxton and his friend Andrew Todd Rosenthal formed a new wave musical band called Martini Ranch. The band released its only full-length album, ''Holy Cow'', in 1988 on Sire Records. The album was produced by Devo member Bob Casale, and featured guest appearances by two other members of that band. The music video for the band's single "Reach" was directed by James Cameron. In 2018, his performances as Peter "Coconut Pete" Wabash in '' Broken Lizard's Club Dread'' were released posthumously on the album ''Take Another Hit: The Best of Coconut Pete''.

Personal life

Paxton married Kelly Rowan in 1979 and they divorced a year later. He later met Louise Newbury on the Number 37 bus in Twickenham, London, where she was a student, and they were married in 1987. They lived in Ojai, California, and had two children: son James (b. 1994), who also became an actor, and daughter Lydia (b. 1997).

Death and lawsuit

In early 2017, Paxton stated in an interview on '' WTF with Marc Maron'' that he had a damaged aortic heart valve, resulting from rheumatic fever that he contracted as a child. On February 14, 2017, he underwent open-heart surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to repair the damaged valve and correct an aortic aneurysm. A day later, he underwent an emergency second surgery to repair a damaged coronary artery. His condition deteriorated over the following 10 days, and he died of a stroke on February 25 at the age of 61. He was cremated and his ashes were buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park of Hollywood Hills.

One year after Paxton's death, his family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ali Khoynezhad, the surgeon who performed his operation, alleging that Khoynezhad used "high-risk and unconventional" methods and that he was not present in the operating room when Paxton developed complications such as ventricular dysfunction, tachycardia, and a compromised right coronary artery, which they claim contributed to the coronary artery damage that necessitated a second surgery and ultimately led to Paxton's death. The case was set for trial in Los Angeles Superior Court in March 2022. In February 2022, Paxton's family reached a partial settlement with General Anesthesia Specialists Partnership for $1 million. In August 2022, the case was settled against Cedars-Sinai and Khoynezhad under undisclosed terms.

Tributes

Public figures

Many dozens of filmmakers and actors across the entertainment spectrum paid tribute to Paxton in the aftermath of his death.

On February 26, 2017, while introducing the annual ''In Memoriam'' segment at the 89th Academy Awards the day after Paxton's death, a visibly emotional Jennifer Aniston paid tribute to him. His ''Big Love'' co-star Chloë Sevigny remembered him as "one of the less cynical, jaded people he'dever met in the business" and said, "He believed in entertainment being transportive and transformative. He believed in the magic of what we can bring to people. That was really a gift that he gave to me." The television show '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' paid tribute at the end of its season-four episode " What If...", and a number of storm chasers paid tribute to his role in ''Twister'' by spelling out his initials "BP" via the Spotter Network.

Films

The 2017 film '' Call Me by Your Name'' was dedicated to Paxton's memory. The film's producer, Peter Spears, explained that his husband Brian Swardstrom, who was also Paxton's best friend and agent, once visited the set with Paxton during filming and befriended the film's director Luca Guadagnino, who ultimately decided to dedicate the film "in loving memory of Bill Paxton". Close friend and frequent collaborator James Cameron wrote a tribute in an article for '' Vanity Fair'', detailing their 36-year friendship and expressing regret over the projects they would not be able to make together. The 2019 John Travolta film '' The Fanatic'', which co-starred Paxton's son James, was dedicated to Paxton. James would later play a younger version of Paxton's S.H.I.E.L.D. character in the final season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which served as a tribute to his role in the show. Cameron's 2022 film, '' Avatar: The Way of Water'' was dedicated to the memory of Paxton as well as to James Horner, who previously worked with Cameron on ''Aliens'', ''Titanic'' and the first'' Avatar''. Paxton worked with both Cameron and Horner on the former two films. Cameron had hoped to cast Paxton in the Avatar sequels before his death.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Video games

Theme park attractions

Production work

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Bill Paxton – Movie Director
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paxton, Bill
1955 births
2017 deaths
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American people of Austrian descent
American people of Dutch descent
American people of English descent
American people of French descent
American people of German descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Swiss descent
American people of Swiss-German descent
American people of Welsh descent
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Film directors from Texas
Male actors from Fort Worth, Texas
Male Western (genre) film actors
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners