Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton was an American actor and filmmaker born William Paxton on May 17, 1955, in Fort Worth, Texas. As a child, he was present in the crowd outside the Hotel Texas on the morning of November 22, 1963, and was lifted up to see President John F. Kennedy hours before the assassination, an event later confirmed in archival photographs. He moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and worked in the art department on Roger Corman productions before pursuing acting.

Paxton built a long screen career through collaborations with director James Cameron, appearing in The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic. He also led or co-led films including Twister, Apollo 13, Tombstone, A Simple Plan, and One False Move. His role in A Simple Plan in 1998 earned wide critical praise, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe for the part.

On television, he starred for five seasons as Bill Henrickson in the HBO drama Big Love, which ran from 2006 to 2011 and earned him three Golden Globe nominations. He went on to lead the 2012 History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys opposite Kevin Costner, for which he received an Emmy nomination, and he starred in the CBS series Training Day at the time of his death.

Paxton also directed the films Frailty in 2001 and The Greatest Game Ever Played in 2005. He died on February 25, 2017, at age 61, from complications following heart surgery.

Their name Bill derives from the Germanic elements wil meaning will or desire and helm meaning helmet, by way of the longer name William. Bill was among the most popular American nicknames for boys named William through most of the twentieth century.