Bill Paxton
 |
Bill Paxton | |
|---|---|
 Paxton at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International | |
| Born | William Paxton May 17, 1955 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, director |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Kelly Rowan
(m. 1979; div. 1980)Louise Newbury (m. 1987) |
| Children | 2 |
William "Bill" Paxton (born May 17, 1955) is an American actor and director. He has appeared in a number of films, including The Terminator (1984), Weird Science (1985), Aliens (1986), True Lies (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Twister (1996), and Titanic (1997). He also starred in the HBO series Big Love (2006–2011) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys.
Early life
Paxton was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of Mary Lou (née Gray) and John Lane Paxton, a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and occasional actor.[1] His mother was Roman Catholic, and he and his siblings were raised in her faith.[2]
Paxton was in the crowd when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas on the morning of his assassination on November 22, 1963. There are pictures at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, where an eight-year-old Paxton can be seen being lifted above the crowd.[3][4]
Career
Some of Paxton's earliest roles include a minor role as a punk thug in The Terminator (1984) and a supporting role as the lead protagonist's bullying older brother in John Hughes' Weird Science (1985). He also appeared in Aliens (1986) as the sarcastic Private Hudson: Except for Lance Henriksen, Paxton is the only actor to play characters confronted by a Terminator (The Terminator), a Xenomorph (Aliens), and a Predator (Predator 2). Paxton collaborated with director James Cameron on True Lies (1994) and Titanic (1997), which was the highest-grossing film of all time at its release. Four years after appearing in Titanic, he joined James Cameron on an expedition to the actual Titanic. A film about this trip, Ghosts of the Abyss, was released in 2003.[5]
Some of Paxton's notable performances include playing Morgan Earp in Tombstone (1993), Fred Haise in Apollo 13 (1995), the lead role in the successful Twister (1996), lead roles in dark dramas such as One False Move (1992) and A Simple Plan (1998), and, more recently, a supporting role in Edge of Tomorrow (2014).[5]
Paxton received acclaim for some of his television performances. Most notably, he had the lead role in HBO's Big Love (2006-2011), for which Paxton received three Golden Globe nominations. Paxton also received attention 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. He directed a number of short films, including Fish Heads, which aired during Saturday Night Live's low-rated 1980–1981 season. He directed the feature films Frailty (2001), in which he starred, and The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005).[5]
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. He appears in the Limp Bizkit video Eat You Alive. In 1988, he and vocalist/guitarist Andrew Todd Rosenthal formed a short-lived rock duo Martini Ranch. In 2014, he played the role of the villainous John Garrett in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He stars 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).[citation needed]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Crazy Mama | John | Uncredited[citation needed] |
| 1980 | Fish Heads | Main Character | Music video |
| 1981 | Stripes | Soldier | |
| 1982 | Night Warning | Eddie | |
| 1983 | Taking Tiger Mountain | Billy Hampton | |
| 1983 | The Lords of Discipline | Gilbreath | |
| 1983 | Mortuary | Paul Andrews | |
| 1984 | Streets of Fire | Clyde the Bartender | |
| 1984 | Impulse | Eddie | |
| 1984 | The Terminator | Punk Leader | |
| 1985 | Weird Science | Chet Donnelly | |
| 1985 | Commando | Intercept Officer | |
| 1986 | Aliens | Private William Hudson | |
| 1987 | Near Dark | Severen | |
| 1989 | Slipstream | Matt Owens | |
| 1989 | Next of Kin | Gerald Gates | |
| 1989 | Back to Back | Bo Brand | |
| 1990 | Brain Dead | Jim Reston | |
| 1990 | The Last of the Finest | Howard 'Hojo' Jones | |
| 1990 | Navy SEALs | Dane | |
| 1990 | Predator 2 | Jerry Lambert | |
| 1991 | The Dark Backward | Gus | |
| 1992 | The Vagrant | Graham Krakowski | |
| 1992 | One False Move | Dale 'Hurricane' Dixon | |
| 1992 | Trespass | Vince | |
| 1993 | Monolith | Tucker | |
| 1993 | Indian Summer | Jack Belston | |
| 1993 | Boxing Helena | Ray O'Malley | |
| 1993 | Tombstone | Morgan Earp | |
| 1994 | True Lies | Simon | |
| 1994 | Frank and Jesse | Frank James | |
| 1994 | Future Shock | Vince | |
| 1995 | The Last Supper | Zachary Cody | |
| 1995 | Apollo 13 | Fred Haise | |
| 1996 | Twister | Bill "The Extreme" Harding | |
| 1996 | The Evening Star | Jerry Bruckner | |
| 1997 | Traveller | Bokky | |
| 1997 | Titanic | Brock Lovett | |
| 1998 | A Simple Plan | Hank | |
| 1998 | Mighty Joe Young | Professor Gregory O'Hara | |
| 2000 | U-571 | Lieutenant Commander Mike Dahlgren | |
| 2000 | Vertical Limit | Elliot Vaughn | |
| 2001 | Frailty | Dad Meiks | Director |
| 2002 | Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams | Dinky Winks | |
| 2003 | Ghosts of the Abyss | Narrator | |
| 2003 | Resistance | Major Theodore 'Ted' Brice | |
| 2003 | Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over | Dinky Winks | |
| 2004 | Club Dread | Coconut Pete | |
| 2004 | Thunderbirds | Jeff Tracy | |
| 2004 | Haven | Carl Ridley | |
| 2005 | Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D | Edgar Mitchell | Short film |
| 2005 | The Greatest Game Ever Played | Director | |
| 2007 | The Good Life | Robbie | |
| 2011 | Haywire | John Kane | |
| 2011 | Tattoo | Director | |
| 2012 | Shanghai Calling | Donald | |
| 2013 | The Colony | Mason | |
| 2013 | 2 Guns | Earl | |
| 2013 | Red Wing | Jim Verret | |
| 2014 | Million Dollar Arm | Tom House | |
| 2014 | Edge of Tomorrow | Master Sergeant Farell | |
| 2014 | Nightcrawler | Joe Loder | |
| 2016 | Term Life | Detective Keenan | |
| 2016 | Mean Dreams | Wayne Caraway | Post-production |
| 2017 | The Circle | Mae's father | Post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Deadly Lessons | Eddie Fox | Television film |
| 1985 | An Early Frost | Bob Maracek | Television film |
| 1985 | The Atlanta Child Murders | Campbell | Television film |
| 1986 | Fresno | Billy Joe Bobb | Television miniseries |
| 1986 | Miami Vice | Detective Vic Romano | Episode: "Streetwise" |
| 1987 | The Hitchhiker | Trout | Episode: "Made for Each Other" |
| 1993 | Tales from the Crypt | Billy DeLuca | Episode: "People Who Live in Brass Hearses" |
| 1998 | A Bright Shining Lie | John Paul Vann | Television film |
| 2003 | Frasier | Ernie | Episode: "Analyzed Kiss" |
| 2006–11 | Big Love | Bill Henrickson | Lead role, 53 episodes |
| 2012 | Hatfields & McCoys | Randolph McCoy | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | JFK: The Day That Changed Everything | Narrator | Documentary |
| 2014 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | John Garrett | Recurring role, 6 episodes |
| 2015 | Texas Rising | Sam Houston | Television miniseries |
| 2015 | The Gamechangers | Jack Thompson[6] | Television film |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare | Kahn | Exo Zombies |
Music videos
| Year | Title | Artiste | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | "Eat You Alive" | Limp Bizkit | Sheriff |
Awards and nominations
References
- ^ "Bill Paxton Biography". FilmReference.com. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
- ^ Spitznagel, Eric (January 8, 2010). "Bill Paxton Can Defend Polygamy, But He Can't Defend Sarah Palin". Retrieved 2015-07-19.
- ^ Wilonsky, Robert (March 28, 2007). "The Day Bill Paxton Saw John F. Kennedy". Dallas Observer Blogs. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
- ^ DiBlasi, Loren (May 25, 2012). "Live With Kelly: Bill Paxton 'Hatfields & McCoys' Interview". Recapo. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
- ^ a b c Bill Paxton at IMDb
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (April 22, 2015). "GTA Drama Casts Daniel Radcliffe and Bill Paxton". gamespot.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
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External links
- Bill Paxton at IMDb
- Bill Paxton at the TCM Movie Database
- Bill Paxton at AllMovie
- Bill Paxton and Bill Paxton - Movie Director at The Numbers
- Bill Paxton on National Public Radio in 2005
- Bill Paxton on National Public Radio in 2002
- 1955 births
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- American film directors
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- American Roman Catholics
- Film directors from Texas
- Living people
- 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