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Bill Paxton

Biography

The actor, filmmaker and musician Bill Paxton was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1955 and died in 2017. After moving to Los Angeles and working behind the scenes, he turned from directing to acting. His early screen roles included Mortuary (1983), The Terminator (1984), Weird Science (1985) and Aliens (1986), where his performance as Private William Hudson won him a Saturn Award. He became a frequent collaborator of James Cameron, appearing in True Lies and Titanic, and starred in films such as Near Dark, Tombstone, Apollo 13, Twister, A Simple Plan, U-571 and Vertical Limit. He made his directorial debut with Frailty (2001), also starring in it, and later directed The Greatest Game Ever Played. On television he led Big Love and earned an Emmy nomination for Hatfields & McCoys. His final film appearance was The Circle (2017).

61years old at death

  • Born Fort Worth
  • Died Los Angeles
  • Star sign: TaurusThe sign runs April 20 to May 20
  • Also credited as William Paxton, William Archibald Paxton and Wild Bill

Movie Career

Films
56
Career span
36 years1981 to 2017

Genres

Photos

  • Bill Paxton, photo 1 of 3
  • Bill Paxton, photo 2 of 3
  • Bill Paxton, photo 3 of 3

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  1. Behind the camera

    Paxton directed several short films, among them a music video for the Barnes & Barnes novelty song "Fish Heads". It aired on Saturday Night Live during its low-rated 1980-81 season and got heavy play in MuchMusic's early days.

  2. Beyond film

    Bill Paxton formed the new wave band Martini Ranch with friend Andrew Todd Rosenthal in 1982; their only album, Holy Cow, came out in 1988 on Sire Records and was produced by Devo's Bob Casale.

  3. Behind the camera

    Bill Paxton directed his first film, the 2001 horror movie Frailty, and acted in it too. The work earned him Saturn Award nominations for Best Director and Best Horror Film.

  4. Beyond film

    Bill Paxton played Peter "Coconut Pete" Wabash in Broken Lizard's Club Dread, and his performances from the film were released posthumously in 2018 on the album Take Another Hit: The Best of Coconut Pete.

Bill Paxton movies on Netflix

Best known for

The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.

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  1. Edge of Tomorrow2014 Action, Adventure, Sci-Fias Master Sergeant Farell

    IMDb rating 7.9816K votes

  2. Nightcrawler2014 Crime, Drama, Thrilleras Joe Loder

    IMDb rating 7.8682K votes

  3. Apollo 131995as Fred Haise

    IMDb rating 7.7343K votes

  4. Titanic1997as Brock Lovett

    IMDb rating 8.01.4M votes

  5. Aliens1986as Private Hudson

    IMDb rating 8.4848K votes

  6. Twister1996as Bill Harding

    IMDb rating 6.6254K votes

  7. True Lies1994as Simon

    IMDb rating 7.3304K votes

  8. Frailty2002as Dad Meiks

    IMDb rating 7.2102K votes

Most often with

James Cameron directed five of these films, Walter Hill two. Michael Biehn appears in six of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.

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Films together

Box office

What Bill Paxton's films earned in cinemas worldwide.

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Combined worldwide box office

$5.2 billion

39 of the 56 films have a worldwide figure.

Of the 56 films: 39 worldwide figure; 9 us gross only; 3 never in cinemas; 5 figure not found.

  • 39Worldwide figure
  • 9US gross only
  • 3Never in cinemas
  • 5Figure not found

Highest grossing

The eight biggest films earned 84% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.

  1. 1
    Titanic1997as Brock Lovett
    $2.3B43.3% of the total
  2. 2
    Twister1996as Bill Harding
    $494M9.5% of the total
  3. 3
    True Lies1994as Simon
    $379M7.2% of the total
  4. 4
    Edge of Tomorrow2014as Master Sergeant Farell
    $371M7.1% of the total
  5. 5
    Apollo 131995as Fred Haise
    $355M6.8% of the total
  6. 6
    Vertical Limit2000as Elliot Vaughn
    $216M4.1% of the total
  7. 7
    Aliens1986as Private Hudson
    $183M3.5% of the total
  8. 8
    2 Guns2013as Earl
    $132M2.5% of the total
U-571 (2000), $128 millionSpy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002), $120 millionThe Terminator (1984), $78.4 millionTombstone (1993), $73.2 millionPredator 2 (1990), $57.1 millionNightcrawler (2014), $47.4 millionThe Circle (2017), $40.7 millionWeird Science (1985), $38.9 millionMillion Dollar Arm (2014), $38.3 millionHaywire (2011), $33.4 millionThunderbirds (2004), $28.3 millionNavy Seals (1990), $25.1 millionFrailty (2002), $17.4 millionGhosts of the Abyss (2003), $17.0 millionA Simple Plan (1998), $16.3 millionNext of Kin (1989), $15.9 million

$838 millionfrom the other 31 films with a worldwide figure, 16% of the total

Awards

One award and honor, one of them major.

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Bill Paxton's awards and nominations, grouped by award
YearAwardFilmResult
SAG Awards
1996Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureApollo 13Won

Online

Official profiles and reference pages.

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