William Archibald "Bill" Paxton was an American actor, musician, director, producer, and writer. He was was best known for his roles in films, such as Chet Donnelly in 1985's Weird Science, Private William Hudson in the Aliens, Simon in True Lies, Fred Haise in Apollo 13, Twister, Dr. Brock Lovett in the 1997 biographical drama Titanic, and Master Sergeant Farell in 2014's Edge of Tomorrow. He also played Sam Houston in the History TV miniseries Texas Rising and as former Florida attorney and anti-video game activist Jack Thompson in the BBC docudrama The Gamechangers, which centered on the controversies surrounding the popular video game series Grand Theft Auto.
For Disney, he played Jack Belston in the 1993 Touchstone Pictures film Indian Summer, Morgan Earp in the 1993 Hollywood Pictures film Tombstone, Professor Gregory "Greg" O'Hara in the 1998 Disney action-adventure family film Mighty Joe Young, agent John Garrett in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Tom House in the 2014 autobiographical film Million Dollar Arm. He also appeared in the 2003 Disney documentary film Ghosts of the Abyss. In addition, he directed the 2005 biographical drama The Greatest Game Ever Played.
On February 25, 2017, Paxton died of complications of heart surgery and a stroke he had been suffering from a few weeks prior. He was 61 years old.
Roles[]
(Million Dollar Arm)
Trivia[]
- He was considered for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. However, Ewan McGregor was cast at the end.
- Paxton, Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Rance Howard, and Xander Berkeley have all worked on Apollo 13 (1995).
- Paxton, Patrick Swayze, Adam Baldwin, Liam Neeson, and Ben Stiller have all worked on Next of Kin (1989).
- Paxton and Ben Kingsley also collaborated in the live-action adaptation of Thunderbirds (2004).
- Bill Paxton primarily portrayed John Garrett, in the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and his son, James Paxton, portrays the younger version of him, in the final season.
Gallery[]
