Overview (5)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (2)

Trade Mark (2)



Frequently worked with James Cameron

Trivia (55)

Bill had rheumatic fever in the seventh grade. This kept him hospitalized for a month and bedridden for four months. He had to take regular doses of penicillin until he was age 18.





As a teen, Bill caddied for golf great Ben Hogan in Fort Worth.



Co-authored and produced the short Scoop (1982), which won an Honorable Mention at the 1983 USA Film Festival.



Met his second wife Louise Newbury on a #13 bus in London.



Bill's paternal grandfather was a friend and neighbor to the great American painter Thomas Hart Benton



Learned to speak German to prepare for his role in Pat Benatar 's music video "Shadows of the Night" (1982).



Attended Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Texas, the same high school as John Denver and Lee Harvey Oswald (who left before he graduated).

Had earned the nickname "Wild Bill" among friends and co-stars for his apparently crazed sense of humor and his love for elaborate pranks.



Inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame during their annual induction gala at Austin Studios in Austin, Texas on March 9, 2007 for his career achievement in the motion picture film industry. The Texas Film Hall of Fame inductees are native-born Texans who have achieved excellence in their film career.





He was the only other actor, along with Lance Henriksen , to appear in the Alien, Predator and Terminator film series.

He was the only other actor to have been killed by a Terminator, an Alien, a Predator, the Grim Reaper and a serial killer.





At eight years old, Paxton was in the crowd waving when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, Texas, on the morning of November 22, 1963. There are pictures at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas where the young Paxton can clearly be seen astride the shoulders of an onlooker.



Utters the second line of dialog in Terminator (1984) and, along with Brian Thompson and Brad Rearden , were the first hapless humans to confront the Terminator in the 'flesh'. Paxton was the punk with the blue spiky hairdo.

Worked as a parking lot attendant.





He appeared as a sheriff in the music video "Eat You Alive" by the rock band Limp Bizkit (2003).

He was of English, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, Austrian, German, French, Swiss, Dutch, and distant Welsh and Norwegian, descent.





Working on Texas Rising (2015), he found out that he is actually related to Sam Houston . "Sam Houston and I share common grandparents, going back six generations. His mother would be a great-aunt of mine. That makes Sam Houston and me second cousins four times removed".



He was originally cast as Stifler's father in American Pie 2 (2001), but had to leave the project due to his schedule. Chris Penn replaced him, but the character was deleted from the film.



He was considered for Matthew Broderick 's role in Godzilla (1998).



He was considered for the lead role of Cliff Secord in Rocketeer (1991), which went to Billy Campbell



He almost got the lead role in Darkman (1990). He told his friend Liam Neeson about the audition. When Neeson got the the role, Paxton was so angry that he did not speak to Neeson for months.



He was considered for the role of Lance in Pulp Fiction (1994), which went to Eric Stoltz



He was considered for the lead role of Henry Hackett in Schlagzeilen (1994), which went to Michael Keaton



He was considered for the lead role of Alan Parrish in Jumanji (1995), which went to Robin Williams



He was briefly attached to the lead role of Bobby Cooper in U-Turn - Kein Weg zurück (1997) when Sean Penn turned it down. About a week before filming, Paxton backed out; fortunately, Penn had become available.



He was considered for the role of Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (1993), which went to Jeff Goldblum



Was a seventh cousin of Sara Paxton

At eight years old, Paxton was in the crowd when President John F. Kennedy gave what would be his final speech on November 22, 1963. In subsequent years, Paxton shared pictures taken of himself sitting on the shoulders of an onlooker who offered to help him get a better view of the president.





In July 1999, he was attached to star in "Mexicali", a spec script written by Paul T. Scheuring and Christian Gudegast about a retired stuntman who travels with his wife to the west coast of Mexico. While sailing off shore, they witness a murder, ostensibly committed by members of a drug cartel. Rest of story details the efforts of the stuntman, who becomes separated from his wife, to evade the traffickers and return safely to the U.S. Project was sold to Destination Films for mid- against high-six figures, who then hired Roger Avary to rewrite the original script. The day Avary showed up to their offices to hand deliver his first draft, the office workers were packing their stuff up into boxes because the company was going bankrupt.



After his tragic, unexpected death, storm chasers across the country united in forming his initials "B.P." using their GPS coordinates as tribute to his well-loved character from the movie Twister (1996).

When asked why the axe used by his character has the name "OTIS" carved into the handle, Paxton stated that he wanted the axe to have its own personality and to be unique.



He found the name in Pasadena when he was there scouting for locations to film. Paxton met a homeless man and offered to give him some money. The homeless man did not want charity, so Paxton instead offered to buy the use of the man's name for his movie. The homeless man's name was Otis.





Completed filming the thirteen commissioned episodes of Training Day (2017) before his untimely death.

He passed away from a stroke following an aortic aneurysm repair and bicuspid aortic valve replacement surgery he had on February 14, 2017. He was three months away from what would have been his 62nd birthday on May 17.



Following his untimely death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California.





He was considered for the role of Lt. Gabriel Cash in Tango und Cash (1989) that went to Kurt Russell



He was considered for the role of Jake Brigance in Die Jury (1996) that went to Matthew McConaughey



Alumnus of Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

Paxton is a great-great grandson of Confederate Civil War General Elisha F. Paxton.



Personal Quotes (13)

It's very liberating to be naked in front of a hundred people, but there's nothing sexual about lovemaking on a movie set...





. . . but it was movies I had always wanted to be in. I'm into the whole thing, not just performing. I love watching what goes on behind the camera. My heroes are Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd -- complete filmmakers.



I want people to re-evaluate me. My dream would be to make films like Clint Eastwood did... You have to be a self-starter out here at a certain point. It's important to take the reigns or, otherwise, you can be regaled to obscurity so quickly.

I've always loved movies about con men. I think con men are as American as apple pie.





I support the troops. This is tough time right now. I think a lot of people in our industry are afraid to speak out. I had a drink with Sean Penn the other night. He went over to Baghdad in December just to see for himself what was going on. And that guy is as American as anybody I ever met.



[on James Cameron ] This guy has more integrity than anyone I ever met in my life.

Anyone who's worked very hard on a craft or an art to get a certain precision in terms of execution and performance wants to get past all that stuff that holds you up - your ego, all the doubts.



[on his experiences as a director] I have great empathy for my actors. They trust me because they know that I have been on the front end of the camera.





[referring to 11 September 2001, a filming day for Die Geister der Titanic (2003)] When we first got word, Jim had just gone down with the two submarines. It was the last dive, because Hurricane Erin was coming... [Paxton waited hours for James Cameron 's return to tell him the news of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington] I said, "Jim, the world changed from the time you went down till you came back." It was strange. We felt a little bit like survivors out there.

My biggest disappointment is not getting to do the romantic roles I always dreamed of. But I've had a pretty good career. And you know what? We'e grist for the mill out here, and if I quit doing this, there's 10 guys ready to take my place.



I don't believe in heroes and villains ultimately. I believe people are capable of great villainy and great heroism -- the same person.

