One of the most underrated actors and directors of his generation has left us. Bill Paxton, the star of Aliens, Apollo 13 and Twister, died this weekend due to complications with surgery.
The 61-year-old actor got his start in the art department on films like Galaxy of Terror and Big Bad Mama, and directed the early cult favorite music video for “Fish Heads” by Barnes & Barnes. Bill Paxton started getting bit parts in films like Stripes and Streets of Fire before rising through the ranks, stealing scenes with supporting performances in classic action movies and horror movies, and eventually starring in celebrated dramas and the hit HBO series Big Love.
Bill Paxton went on to direct two incredible motion pictures of his own, the horror thriller Frailty and the sports drama The Greatest Game Ever Played. He is also one of only two actors to have been “killed” by an Alien, a Predator and a Terminator, an honor he shares with his Aliens co-star Lance Henriksen.
Words fail us. Bill Paxton’s death is wholly unexpected, robbing the film industry of one of its most distinctive talents. Bill Paxton had just begun starring in the television version of the Oscar-winning cop drama Training Day, and there’s no word yet on how the series – which started its first season earlier this month – will handle the actor’s passing.
To commemorate the life and career of the great Bill Paxton, please join us for a brief retrospective of the actor/director’s greatest films, the ones we will never, ever forget.
16 Bill Paxton Movies We Will Never Forget:
Top Photo: Warner Bros.
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
16 Bill Paxton Movies We Will Never Forget
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The Terminator
Most audiences were introduced to Bill Paxton at the beginning of James Cameron's The Terminator, where he became one of the killing machine's first victims. It was the first of many blockbuster films directed by Cameron that co-starred Bill Paxton, although from here on out the actor's roles got much bigger.
Photo: Orion Pictures
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Weird Science
Bill Paxton plays the obnoxious older brother Chet in John Hughes' bizarre sci-fi comedy, standing in for lousy and abusive siblings everywhere and getting some glorious comeuppance by the end.
Photo: Universal Pictures
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Aliens
James Cameron's influential sequel Aliens co-starred Bill Paxton as Private Hudson, a blowhard colonial marine whose bravado evaporates in the face of a horrifying new enemy. His delivery of "Game over, man! Game over!" became one of the most quoted lines of dialogue in movie history.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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Near Dark
Kathryn Bigelow's brutal, contemporary vampire western co-stars a scene-stealing Bill Paxton as a blood-loving monster who finds new and horrifying uses for the spurs on his boots.
Photo: DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group
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Predator 2
Like many of Bill Paxton's early characters, his role in Predator 2 is that of a lout, but in this underrated horror sequel he turns out to be a perfectly capable police officer who just happens to be a sleaze with a bad sense of humor.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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The Dark Backward
Adam Rifkin's sublimely weird and deeply grimy dark comedy The Dark Backward stars Judd Nelson as a meek stand-up comic who grows a third arm, and Bill Paxton as the disturbingly toxic best friend who takes advantage of the situation.
Photo: Greycat Films
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One False Move
Bill Paxton gives one of his best performances as Dale "Hurricane" Dixon, a small town sheriff dealing with smug Los Angeles cops and a gang of dangerous criminals in unexpected ways.
Photo: I.R.S. Releasing
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Tombstone
George P. Cosmos' classic western stars Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton and Sam Elliott as the Earp Brothers, and Val Kilmer as the loquacious Doc Holliday. Incredible action and an incredible cast have earned Tombstone a larger fanbase than almost any other late era western.
Photo: Buena Vista Pictures
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True Lies
Bill Paxton tries to steal the wife of a secret agent in James Cameron's odd action-comedy True Lies. A lot of True Lies hasn't aged well, but Paxton's performance is still a highlight.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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Apollo 13
Bill Paxton shared a SAG Award with the rest of the ensemble cast of Apollo 13, a fantastic disaster movie in space, based on the true story of the astronauts who almost didn't make it home.
Photo: Universal Pictures
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Twister
Jan de Bont's Twister isn't a particularly complicated movie. Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt chase tornadoes and bicker and that's about it, really. But impressive visual effects and a great cast elevate the material and turn Twister into a nostalgic 1990s favorite.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Titanic
James Cameron's Titanic spends most of its time on the doomed vessel, but the story is bookended by a deep sea expedition to the sunken wreck, led by Bill Paxton, who plays a treasure hunter who learns a valuable lesson about history.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
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A Simple Plan
Bill Paxton gives another of his best performances in Sam Raimi's Oscar-nominated thriller A Simple Plan, a disturbing drama about three friends who find a pile of money in the woods and proceed to gradually rip each other apart.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
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Frailty
Bill Paxton starred in and directed this fantastic and nuanced horror thriller, about a pair of young boys whose father tells them God has spoken, and that they have to kill demons... demons who look like normal people.
Photo: Lionsgate
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The Greatest Game Ever Played
Bill Paxton also directed this handsome sports drama, starring Shia LaBoeuf as Francis Ouimet, the very first amateur to win the U.S. Open. Golfing has never looked better.
Photo: Buena Vista Pictures
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Nightcrawler
Dan Gilroy's vicious drama about freelance videographers who film crime scenes and car crashes co-stars Bill Paxton as the old hand who gets in our "hero's" way, and finds himself regretting that decision.
Photo: Open Road Films
