Bill Paxton

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Bill Paxton

Birth name William Paxton
Born May 17, 1955 (age 51)
Flag of United States Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Spouse(s) Louise Newbury (1987 - present) 2 children
Kelly Rowan (2 October 1979 - 22 July 1980) (divorced)

William "Bill" Paxton (born May 17, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas) is a Golden Globe award nominated American actor and film director. He is a son of John Lane Paxton (an occasional actor) and Mary Lou Paxton. Paxton has been married to Louise Newbury since 1985, and they have two children, James (born 1994) and Lydia (born 1997).

Paxton has played some distinctive and memorable characters including the sneering older brother Chet in John Hughes' Weird Science; Hudson, the loud-mouthed space soldier in James Cameron's Aliens ("Game over, man! Game over!"); astronaut Fred Haise in Ron Howard's Apollo 13; the sadistic vampire Severen in Kathryn Bigelow's film Near Dark; a tornado researcher opposite Helen Hunt in the blockbuster Twister; the treasure hunter who Rose's story is told to in Titanic and the sleazy car salesman in True Lies. Notable is the performance Paxton delivered in Carl Franklin's critically acclaimed One False Move.

Paxton moved to Los Angeles at 18 and began working for director Roger Corman as a set designer on his films. Exposure to films and actors at that age influenced his decision to pursue acting and led Paxton to relocate to New York City, where he studied with Stella Adler.

Paxton has directed a number of short films, including Fish Heads, which aired during Saturday Night Live's low-rated 1980-1981 season on the episode hosted by Ellen Burstyn (with musical guests Aretha Franklin and Keith Sykes). He has also directed feature films: Frailty and The Greatest Game Ever Played. He is an ex-member of the band Martini Ranch.

Paxton is currently performing in the HBO drama Big Love as the head of a polygamous family in Utah.

Contents

[edit] Trivia

  • Paxton has the dubious distinction of being the only actor who has played characters killed by an Alien (as Private Hudson in Aliens), a Predator (as Jerry Lambert in Predator 2), and a Terminator (as the punk leader in The Terminator). (Lance Henriksen would be worthy of this distinction but for the word 'kill': he played a robot in Aliens.
  • James Cameron gave Paxton the nick name "knuckles." In a local bar during the filming of True Lies, Paxton warned off a disgruntled local donning an iron knuckleduster given to him by Lance Henriksen.
  • Paxton appeared as a treasure hunter searching for a diamond at the wreckage of the Titanic in the 1997 film. Four years later, he joined James Cameron on an expedition to the Titanic. The film "'Ghosts of the Abyss, was released in 2003.
  • In 1988, he and vocalist/guitarist Andrew Todd formed the short-lived rock duo Martini Ranch. They recorded and released an album entitled "Holy Cow" (the band's only release), which included input from Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Casale and Alan Myers (all of whom contributed to the album's modest hit How Can the Labouring Man Find Time For Self-Culture?), along with Cindy Wilson of the B-52's as a back-up vocalist and actor Judge Reinhold is credited as a whistler on Reach.
  • Bill Paxton has worked with Michael Biehn on The Terminator, Aliens, Navy SEALS and Tombstone. They have both also starred in films which involve climbing the mountain K2, with Biehn's K2in 1992 and Paxton's Vertical Limit in 2000.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Interviews

[edit] External links

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