jakeem Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Bill Paxton, the veteran actor who began starring this month in a new CBS series based on "Training Day," has died at the age of 61. TZM.com reported that Paxton died Saturday due to complications from surgery. One of his last public appearances was as a presenter with his "Training Day" co-star Justin Cornwell for the telecast of the 48th annual NAACP Image Awards on February 11. Paxton gained attention in the 1980s for his roles in hit movies directed by filmmaker James Cameron. In "The Terminator" (1984), he was a member of a punk gang that had an unfortunate encounter with the cyborg assassin played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. In "Aliens" (1986), he was the fear-stricken space Marine Hudson (his memorable lines during a firefight: "Game over, man. Game over!"). In the action-comedy "True Lies" (1994), he was a used car salesman posing as a spy. He also co-starred in the Oscar-winning drama "Titanic" (1997), in which he played a present-day member of the expedition seeking to locate the sunken ocean liner. Paxton co-starred with Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon in "Apollo 13," the true story of the aborted American lunar mission in April 1970. He portrayed Fred Haise, the lunar module pilot, opposite Hanks as Commander Jim Lovell and Bacon as Jack Swigert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiRv6okvACE The actor, who grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, often recalled being an 8-year-old boy in the crowd when President John F. Kennedy spoke in the parking lot of the Hotel Texas on the morning of November 22, 1963. Paxton was there with his father and his older brother Bob. Paxton later re-teamed with Hanks as a co-producer of the 2013 film "Parkland," which re-created the tragic events of the day when Kennedy was assassinated. Another Paxton-Hanks collaboration was the HBO series "Big Love," in which Paxton starred as the head of an extended Mormon family in Utah. The series, which aired from 2006 to 2011, was produced by Hanks' company Playtone. Although people sometimes confused him with actor Bill Pullman ("Independence Day," "Spaceballs"), Paxton was easily recognizable because of his numerous film roles. Among some others: "Weird Science" (1985, as big brother Chet), "Near Dark" (1987), "Predator 2" (1990), "One False Move" (1992, with Billy Bob Thornton), "Tombstone" (1993, as Morgan Earp), "Twister" (1996), "A Simple Plan" (1998, also with Thornton) and "U-571" (2000, with Matthew McConaughey). He directed and co-starred with McConaughey in the 2001 thriller "Frailty," in which Paxton played a religious fanatic. Paxton received a 2012 Primetime Emmy nomination for his performance as Randolph McCoy in The History Channel's miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys." The award -- for Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie -- was won by his co-star, Kevin Costner. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 I've been a fan of Paxton's for the past 34 years. I first paid attention to him in the minor horror film Mortuary in 1983. He was hilarious as the cruel brother in Weird Science. His role as the whiny soldier Hudson in Aliens was also noteworthy. My favorite role of his was as the southern-fried vampire Severin in 1987's Near Dark. He appeared in many more movies, and found greater mainstream success in the 1990's with Apollo 13, Twister, Titanic and then the HBO series Big Love which ran from 2006 to 2011. He wasn't on many people's list of favorite actors, but I always enjoyed him and will miss seeing him on screen in new projects. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelenBaby2 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 So sad. He was a good actor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Just saw him last night on CMT's broadcast of TOMBSTONE. He wasn't a favorite of mine, but that had nothing to do with his qualities as an actor. At 62, it's way too young for a man whose career ordinarily would have had many years left. RIP Bill. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arsan404 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 He was one of my favorite actors. He brought some good comic relief in True Lies, and he was very good in Frailty. Rest in peace. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 I liked him very much, his death was very much unexpected. RIP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton_Keyes Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Paxton was very much a part of the TCM family. He was the channel's guest programmer in January 2013, appearing alongside Robert Osborne. Read about that appearance here: http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/544372%7C0/Guest-Programmer-Bill-Paxton.html. He also was a guest at the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival, introducing a screening of APOLLO 13 alongside Jim Lovell, pictured below: At the Television Critics Association press tour in January 2017, Paxton, who then was promoting his TV series adaptation of Training Day, joked to reporters about his avuncular persona, saying: "Viewers will put me on like an old robe and slippers. I'm like Robert Osborne; I should be on TCM." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesStewartFan95 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 RIP Bill. You will be missed. I will watch Apollo 13 in your memory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 His choices when he was a TCM Guest Programmer were fascinating. He was clearly a pretty deep guy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 24-year-old Bill Paxton directed, and acted in, the cult music video for the song "Fish Heads" by Barnes and Barnes in 1979. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 There's still time to watch Paxton's CBS series "Training Day" from the beginning. The drama, which takes place 15 years after the action in the 2001 Denzel Washington-Ethan Hawke film, premiered on February 2, 2017. Four episodes have already aired. The website Deadline: Hollywood says that Paxton completed all 13 episodes of the midseason series. The fifth episode will air Thursday. Be sure to check for the previously aired episodes on your local on demand service or CBS.com. Antoine Fuqua, who directed the film version of "Training Day," is an executive producer of the TV series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 24-year-old Bill Paxton directed, and acted in, the cult music video for the song "Fish Heads" by Barnes and Barnes in 1979. I DID NOT KNOW THIS! Mind=Blown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Paxton also appears as a Nazi radio operator in Pat Benatar's World War II-themed music video for "Shadows of the Night" (1982). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 There was a time before this sort of info was easy to find on the Internet, where for several years, I often got Paxton mixed up with Bill Pullman, when each of them seemed to be showing up in every other movie. Seems ridiculous now, but I did. He first made an impression on me in Aliens as the buff, gruff space Marine who borders on losing it when he realizes the magnitude of the threat faced: "Game over, man!" "We're grated cheese, man!" I do remember his TCM Guest Programmer night when his choices were quite eclectic, putting the lie to the conspiracy theory that Guest Programmers only get a limited number of options forced on them by TCM, at least for his night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VivLeighFan Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 I was so shocked to hear the news. I loved to watch Twister as a kid and Bill Paxton's character in that movie always fascinated me. I rooted for him in every movie I saw him in. RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 I always liked the opening credits sequence -- featuring The Beach Boys' classic "God Only Knows" -- for the first three seasons of "Big Love." It focuses on polygamist Bill Henrickson (Paxton) and his sister-wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin). I was never crazy about the replacement opening for Seasons 4 and 5, but it certainly was visually striking. The theme song was "Home" by the British band Engineers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bePsqj4hI6U Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 I mentioned in another thread that immediately after the "In Memoriam" segment on the Osars show last night, they went to commercial and the first commercial started off with a clip of Paxton from "Titianic". I forget what the commercial was for. Anybody catch that? I still get bugged when somebody in here talks about some movie they saw "when I was a kid" turns out ot be some flick I saw when I was in my mid to late 40's! Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 How sad. I wonder what kind of surgery? I'll always remember him as the hyper grunt in Aliens. He stole every scene he was in........ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 There was a time before this sort of info was easy to find on the Internet, where for several years, I often got Paxton mixed up with Bill Pullman, when each of them seemed to be showing up in every other movie. Seems ridiculous now, but I did. He first made an impression on me in Aliens as the buff, gruff space Marine who borders on losing it when he realizes the magnitude of the threat faced: "Game over, man!" "We're grated cheese, man!" I do remember his TCM Guest Programmer night when his choices were quite eclectic, putting the lie to the conspiracy theory that Guest Programmers only get a limited number of options forced on them by TCM, at least for his night. No, oddly, I got them mixed up for awhile myself......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 His choices when he was a TCM Guest Programmer were fascinating. He was clearly a pretty deep guy. Do you (or anyone) remember what his choices were? I missed it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 I recall "The Last Detail" and "Juliet of the Spirits". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaDoria Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 I've always been a big fan. I think a lot of our "B' list actors are actually better than the "A" list ones who often tend to just play themselves. He was hilarious and believable as a cowardly guy in a perpetual state of panic in "Aliens," a total jerk in several films, and a solid, regular, good guy in "A Simple Plan," -- one of my favorite movies. I'll really miss him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 not too long ago, i rewatched almost all the episodes of the 1990's HBO anthology series TALES FROM THE CRYPT. many of them are not so good, but one that definitely impressed me greatly (probably my vote for the best of the series) was called PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN BRASS HEARSES and it stars Paxton and Brad Dourif as a pair of brothers planning to murder an ice cream man. I recall being decidedly impressed with Paxton especially- he plays a relentless and aggressively stupid ex-convict/psychopath. look around for it online, it might be out there somewhere. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelenBaby2 Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 How sad. I wonder what kind of surgery? I'll always remember him as the hyper grunt in Aliens. He stole every scene he was in........ I read this morning that he'd had heart surgery and had a stroke afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 I read this morning that he'd had heart surgery and had a stroke afterwards. AWFUL. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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