Bill Paxton

American actor

Also known as: William Archibald Paxton

Written by Pat Bauer

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: May 20, 2025 • Article History

Quick Facts

In full:: William Archibald Paxton

Born:: May 17, 1955, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.

Died:: February 25, 2017, Los Angeles, California (aged 61)

Married To:: Louise Newbury (married 1987); Kelly Lynn Rowan (1979–1980)

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "Thunderbirds" (2004); "The Six O'Clock Follies" (1980); "Slipstream" (1989); "Pass the Ammo" (1988); "Tales from the Crypt" (1993); "Tombstone" (1993); "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (2014); "Aliens" (1986); "Streets of Fire" (1984); "Hatfields & McCoys" (2012); "A Simple Plan" (1998); "Club Dread" (2004); "Texas Rising" (2015); "The Colony" (2013); "Navy Seals" (1990); "Red Wing" (2013); "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014); "Impulse" (1984); "Back to Back" (1989); "The Lords of Discipline" (1983); "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams" (2002); "Resistance" (2003); "Apollo 13" (1995); "Vertical Limit" (2000); "The Vagrant" (1992); "2 Guns" (2013); "Million Dollar Arm" (2014); "The Hitchhiker" (1987); "Miami Vice" (1986); "Haywire" (2011); "Nightcrawler" (2014); "Future Shock" (1994); "The Terminator" (1984); "Taking Tiger Mountain" (1983); "Brain Dead" (1990); "Boxing Helena" (1993); "Traveller" (1997); "The Last of the Finest" (1990); "Training Day" (2017); "Mighty Joe Young" (1998); "Frank & Jesse" (1995); "Predator 2" (1990); "McClain's Law" (1982); "Big Love: In the Beginning" (2007); "Fresno" (1986); "Monolith" (1993); "Next of Kin" (1989); "The Evening Star" (1996); "Stripes" (1981); "Shanghai Calling" (2012); "Indian Summer" (1993); "The Dark Backward" (1991); "Haven" (2004); "The Good Life" (2007); "Frasier" (2003); "The Last Supper" (1995); "Weird Science" (1985); "Frailty" (2001); "Big Love" (2006–2011); "Night Warning" (1981); "The Circle" (2017); "Near Dark" (1987); "Reckless" (1983); "One False Move" (1992); "Trespass" (1992); "The Atlanta Child Murders" (1985); "Twister" (1996); "Spy Kids 3: Game Over" (2003); "Term Life" (2016); "Titanic" (1997); "Pixies" (2015); "Mortuary" (1983); "Mean Dreams" (2016); "Commando" (1985); "U-571" (2000); "Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited" (2019); "True Lies" (1994)

Bill Paxton (born May 17, 1955, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.—died February 25, 2017, Los Angeles, California) was an American actor who was an exceptionally versatile artist; he played a wide variety of roles in films and on television, conveying in each part an essential and believable humanity.

Paxton moved to Los Angeles when he was 18 years old and entered the film industry as a set dresser for the studio New World Pictures. His entrée into acting was an uncredited part in Jonathan Demme’s 1950s romp Crazy Mama (1975). He then moved to New York City and studied acting under Stella Adler. After a period of working mostly in B movies (punctuated by small parts in the major studio films Stripes [1981] and The Lords of Discipline [1983]), Paxton was cast by James Cameron in his sci-fi films The Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986). Paxton’s portrayal of an unnerved redneck marine in the latter won him favorable notice. He was also memorable as an obnoxious older brother in John Hughes’s Weird Science (1985) and as a vampire in Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark (1987).

In 1993 Paxton had his first leading role, in One False Move. He worked again with Cameron on the comedy thriller True Lies (1994) and on the blockbuster Titanic (1997), in which Paxton played a treasure hunter in a framing device for the main story. During this time he also starred with Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon in Apollo 13 (1995), Ron Howard’s acclaimed drama about the nearly disastrous 1970 spaceflight, and appeared with Helen Hunt as a storm chaser in the hit movie Twister (1996).

USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood

Britannica Quiz

Pop Culture Quiz

Although he was primarily a film actor, Paxton excelled as the polygamist patriarch Bill Henrickson in the HBO television series Big Love (2006–11), in which he struggles to be a good husband to each of his three wives. He earned an Emmy Award nomination for his performance as Randolph McCoy in the 2012 TV miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. In 2014 he had a recurring part in the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and he played Sam Houston in the 2015 miniseries Texas Rising. He was starring as a morally ambiguous police detective in the TV series Training Day and had completed work on the 2017 sci-fi film The Circle when he suffered a fatal stroke following heart surgery.

Pat Bauer