Things You Didn't Know About Bill Paxton

Parkland is a 2013 film that tells the story of the aftermath of JFK's assassination in Dallas in 1963. It's a retelling that's grounded in history rather than conspiracy, and it's a film that only happened because of a family trip Bill Paxton took 40 years prior.

Paxton, born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, was eight years old when JFK spoke to the crowd in Dallas on the day he was shot and killed. When Paxton himself later spoke at Texas Christian University about being in that crowd, he said, "It was amazing to see President Kennedy, because I had mostly seen him on television in black and white, and there he was in living color and I couldn't believe how red his hair was. And he was in very good spirits. He made a joke about Jackie not being there because she took a little bit longer to get ready, but she looked a lot better."

He was back at school by the time the nation got the news that the president had been killed, and it wasn't until 2007 that Paxton saw the photos that gave him the idea that would become Parkland. While visiting the Sixth Floor Museum of Kennedy history, he saw photos of that speech and, more than that, he saw himself looking over the heads of the crowd from his vantage point atop a set of sturdy shoulders that belonged to a man he'd just met.

Paxton walked away from the museum with two photos, one of him smiling as Kennedy took the stage, and the other of him beaming and clapping along with the crowd. He also bought a book called Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and it was the contents of that book that made it to the big screen in Parkland, named for the hospital Kennedy was rushed to.

Bill Paxton is best known for his iconic, monster-fighting roles, but one of them was incredibly close to not happening.

Paxton had rented an apartment in London for a few weeks while he was in England to audition for Aliens, but after his reading at Pinewood Studios, he was convinced that he'd blown his chances at the role by overdoing it when he was instructed to pretend a cardboard tube was a rifle, and climb all over the casting director's furniture. The audition ended, weeks went by, and when he didn't hear anything, he was sure that he'd missed out completely.

To fill the gap, Paxton entered negotiations to star in something that couldn't have been more different: Police Academy 2. Paxton dragged his feet, though, as signing the deal meant that he was signing up to be in future films, too, and that would have limited any other opportunities. He was still dragging his feet when James Cameron called and offered him the part of Private Hudson. Paxton took it for half the pay Police Academy had been offering him. He told The A.V. Club, "[...] one thing I learned very early on is that you take the jobs that you can get with the good directors. I've never really been after the money. I probably could've made more money out here if I was really all about the money, but I actually got into this field in a vocational way. I loved filmmaking. I loved photography, I loved acting, so God, I just kind of gravitated toward it."

Roger Corman is one of the most prolific behind-the-scenes filmmakers in Hollywood history, with more than 400 movies to his name (most with names like The Monster From the Ocean Floor, Attack of the Giant Leeches, and The Little Shop of Horrors). Corman gave a number of Hollywood greats the chance to get their foot in the door, and in 1974 he hired a young Bill Paxton as a set dresser.

At the same time, a young James Cameron was also working on the set of Corman's films, and the two struck up a friendship that would be the stuff of Hollywood legend. In a letter to Vanity Fair, Cameron wrote of Paxton's untimely death, "Bill leaves such a void. He and I were close friends for 36 years, since we met on the set of a Roger Corman ultra-low budget movie. He came in to work on the set, and I slapped a paint brush in his hand and pointed to a wall, saying, 'Paint that!'"

From set dresser to actor, it was Corman who gave Paxton his very first acting roles with bit parts in horror flicks like Galaxy of Terror. Once Cameron cast him in another bit part in The Terminator, there was no looking back.

Bill Paxton has been in a huge number of movies and television shows, but it's clear that his role in Texas Rising was fulfilling something of a lifelong dream. According to him, he had originally tried to get an audition in 2004's The Alamo, and as a Texas native, he had always been fascinated with the story of that particular piece of American history.

Discussing the show, Paxton recounted the time his father took him and his brother to see the Alamo, and it captured his imagination. According to him, "I was never a super Texan. I was always proud to be from there. I got to go to school for a couple of months on a foreign exchange program when I was 17 to London. One thing I noted when Brits would ask me where I was from and I said, 'Texas,' they would kind of light up. It did have this mythic Western thing about it."

Even though he grew up in the suburbs of Fort Worth, he did spend his summers horseback riding — and racing — at Teton Valley Camp in Wyoming, and that made him at least comfortable enough in the saddle that he could fake the rest of it. Paxton added, "I never wrapped myself in the flag, but I am really proud to have been a part of this thing."

He also lent his support to fundraising for preservation attempts at the Alamo, appearing on the red carpet at a sneak-peek showing of Texas Rising for charity.

Polygamist Bill Henrickson was perhaps one of the most polarizing of Bill Paxton's major roles, but creators, writers, and real-life couple Will Scheffer and Mark Olsen made it clear that the show wasn't meant to shock; it was meant to explore the idea of just what "family" was. When the show's run came to an end, they went out with a bang — literally.

(Spoilers ahead!)

In an interview with NPR, the creators said that when they told Paxton that his character was going to be shot to death, Paxton immediately resented the idea. "It's not how he envisioned the end of his character's journey nor the end of the series," Olsen said. "And he just had a big problem with it — I think he had a vested relationship with the character of Bill Henrickson, and he feels, rightfully so, that he has husbanded that character for five years, and it hurt him to know that the character was going to die."

Olsen said that Paxton was a little more open to the idea after a few weeks, but in 2012, Paxton gave an interview to Huffington Post and admitted that, even long after the finale aired, he still wasn't sold on the decision.

"I'm still a little unreconciled, but maybe it's because I was very fond of Bill Henrickson," he said. "I think at the end of the day, I have to be objective and say they ended it right. Subjectively, as Bill Henrickson, I think I got a raw deal, but look, I'd sign up with them again if they came to me with another series. I would do it."

For decades, Bill Paxton was a familiar face that popped up in seemingly countless movies and television shows. When his February 2017 death was announced, it shocked the world that Hollywood had lost such a pillar at only 61 years old. The official statement from his family said simply, "It is with heavy hearts we share the news that Bill Paxton has passed away due to complications from surgery."

Sometimes, news like this puts previous comments in a whole new light. In 2012, Paxton chatted with The A.V. Club about his various roles, and during the interview he mentioned his old friend Luke Askew. Paxton said, "He just passed about six weeks ago. I was really upset about that. Hell of a nice guy. He contracted an infection at a hospital, and that's what killed him. So God, whatever you do, don't go to a hospital."