Bill Paxton: 1955-2017 | Features

Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1955, Paxton eventually headed to Hollywood and broke into the film business in the same manner as so many others before him—working for the legendary low-budget movie producer Roger Corman. In the case of Paxton, however, he started off working behind the scenes as a set decorator on such films as “Big Bad Mama” (1974), “Eat My Dust” (1976), “Death Game” (1977) and “Galaxy of Terror” (1981), the latter being an exceptionally sleazy “Alien” knockoff in which he worked for an ambitious young art director by the name of James Cameron. Eventually he began making brief appearances in front of the camera in films like “Stripes” (1981), “Night Warning” (1982), “Mortuary” (1983), “The Lords of Discipline” (1983), “Impulse” (1984) and the cult favorite “Streets of Fire” 1984). By this time, former colleague Cameron had graduated to the director’s chair and for “The Terminator” (1984), he cast Paxton in the small but memorable role of the leader of a trio of punkers who are the first people to cross paths with the title character and discover the painful things that can happen to those who threaten naked cyborgs.

Over the next year, Paxton would appear in another Arnold Schwarzenegger action extravaganza, “Commando” (1985), play the borderline psychotic older brother in the teen comedy hit “Weird Science” (1985) and turn up on TV on an episode of “Miami Vice,” the landmark TV movie “An Early Frost” and the mini-series “The Atlanta Child Murders” and “Fresno.” He then reunited with Cameron, whose success with “The Terminator” landed him the plum job of writing and directing “Aliens” (1986), the sequel to the landmark sci-fi/horror hit “Alien.” As Private Hudson, one of the Marines sent to accompany Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) to investigate the happenings at a seemingly deserted space colony that has been overrun by the titular creatures, Paxton was one of the standout elements in a film that became an instant classic virtually from the day it premiered; watching his character’s macho bluster disintegrate into jabbering terror lent an undeniably human element to the tech-heavy surroundings and his plaintive “Game over, man” became an instant part of the film geek lexicon. He then solidified his credentials among genre fans with his creepy turn as one of the members of a band of redneck vampires in Kathryn Bigelow’s horror cult favorite “Near Dark” (1987).

After a few more years of supporting performances in films like “Pass the Ammo” (1988), “Next of Kin” (1989), “Navy Seals” (1990), “The Last of the Finest” (1990), “Predator 2” (1990) and a grisly turn in the demented black comedy “The Dark Backward” (1991), Paxton finally achieved leading man status in 1992 with “One False Move,” a gritty crime drama in which he played the sheriff of a small Arkansas town where a trio of violent criminals are suspected of heading—his character is excited to participate in the investigation of a significant crime until he realizes that he shares a secret with one of the suspects. At one point, this film (which was co-written by the then-unknown Billy Bob Thornton, who plays another one of the criminals) was destined to go to straight to video until it attracted enough attention to warrant a successful theatrical release that was bolstered by rave reviews across the board with many of the accolades going to Paxton’s genuinely astounding performance. In his early scenes, he is excellent as the kind of cheerful good ol' boy that he could play in his sleep. But as the film goes on and we learn more about his character’s past, his work grows in terms of emotional power that helps to fuel the drama in ways that allow the film to avoid all the usual action/cop movie cliches. This really was the first performance that gave Paxton the opportunity to show what he could really do as an actor. The result would be one of the most powerful turns of his entire career.

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