Trivia

At eight years old, Paxton was in the crowd waving when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, Texas, on the morning of November 22, 1963. There are pictures at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas where the young Paxton can clearly be seen astride the shoulders of an onlooker.

After his tragic, unexpected death, storm chasers across the country united in forming his initials "B.P." using their GPS coordinates as tribute to his well-loved character from the movie Twister (1996).

Bill had rheumatic fever in the seventh grade. This kept him hospitalized for a month and bedridden for four months. He had to take regular doses of penicillin until he was age 18.

He was the only actor to have been killed by a Terminator, an Alien, a Predator, the Grim Reaper and a serial killer.

Had earned the nickname "Wild Bill" among friends and co-stars for his apparently crazed sense of humor and his love for elaborate pranks.

Learned to speak German to prepare for his role in Pat Benatar's music video "Shadows of the Night" (1982).

He was the first choice as Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code (2006). He turned down the role because he was already signed for Big Love (2006). Tom Hanks was cast for the film instead. Coincidentally, Hanks served as executive producer on Paxton's series "Big Love" (2006).

As a teen, Bill caddied for golf great Ben Hogan in Fort Worth.

At eight years old, Paxton was in the crowd when President John F. Kennedy gave what would be his final speech on November 22, 1963. In subsequent years, Paxton shared pictures taken of himself sitting on the shoulders of an onlooker who offered to help him get a better view of the president.

For his role on Tombstone (1993), he was trained by renowned Hollywood Gun Coach Thell Reed, who has also trained such actors as: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot, Leonardo DiCaprio, Girard Swan, Michael Biehn and Ben Foster.

Member of the 1980s experimental New Wave band Martini Ranch. James Cameron directed a music video for their song "Reach" featuring many Cameron alumni (Kathryn Bigelow, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein).

Working on Texas Rising (2015), he found out that he is actually related to Sam Houston. "Sam Houston and I share common grandparents, going back six generations. His mother would be a great-aunt of mine. That makes Sam Houston and me second cousins four times removed".

He almost got the lead role in Darkman (1990). He told his friend Liam Neeson about the audition. When Neeson got the the role, Paxton was so angry that he did not speak to Neeson for months.

Attended Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Texas, the same high school as John Denver and Lee Harvey Oswald (who left before he graduated).

He was the only other actor, along with Lance Henriksen, to appear in the Alien, Predator and Terminator film series.

Had appeared in five films with Michael Biehn: The Lords of Discipline (1983), The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), Navy Seals (1990) and Tombstone (1993).

After his career had been going slow for a couple of years, he requested to be included in the promotional tour of 2 Guns (2013) together with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, in order to get himself in the picture again. It seemed to have worked, as he was subsequently cast in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013) and the sci-fi blockbuster Edge of Tomorrow (2014).

Utters the second line of dialog in The Terminator (1984) and, along with Brian Thompson and Brad Rearden, were the first hapless humans to confront the Terminator in the 'flesh'. Paxton was the punk with the blue spiky hairdo.

Inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame during their annual induction gala at Austin Studios in Austin, Texas on March 9, 2007 for his career achievement in the motion picture film industry. The Texas Film Hall of Fame inductees are native-born Texans who have achieved excellence in their film career.

He was considered for the role of Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (1993), which went to Jeff Goldblum.

Had two children with Louise Newbury: James Paxton (born February 23, 1994) and Lydia (born December 19, 1997).

Completed filming the thirteen commissioned episodes of Training Day (2017) before his untimely death.

Met his second wife Louise Newbury on a #13 bus in London.

He passed away from a stroke following an aortic aneurysm repair and bicuspid aortic valve replacement surgery he had on February 14, 2017. He was three months away from what would have been his 62nd birthday on May 17.

Commando (1985) is the only film that he appeared in with Arnold Schwarzenegger that did not involve James Cameron.

Having worked together on Weird Science (1985), John Hughes offered him the role of the garage attendant in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). However, Paxton turned it down because he felt the role was too small. He admits that he regrets turning it down because Hughes never offered him a role again.

When asked why the axe used by his character has the name "OTIS" carved into the handle, Paxton stated that he wanted the axe to have its own personality and to be unique. He found the name in Pasadena when he was there scouting for locations to film. Paxton met a homeless man and offered to give him some money. The homeless man did not want charity, so Paxton instead offered to buy the use of the man's name for his movie. The homeless man's name was Otis.

He was offered Steve Guttenberg's role in Cocoon (1985).

He was considered for the role of Lance in Pulp Fiction (1994), which went to Eric Stoltz.

He was originally cast as Stifler's father in American Pie 2 (2001), but had to leave the project due to his schedule. Chris Penn replaced him, but the character was deleted from the film.

Paxton is a great-great grandson of Confederate Civil War General Elisha F. Paxton.

Bill and Glenne Headly played the parents of Emma Watson's character in The Circle (2017). The film was released in April 2017. Bill died in February of that year, about two months before the film's release, and Glenne died in June of that year, less than two months after. The Circle was Bill's final film, while Glenne has one more credit, Just Getting Started (2017).

Co-authored and produced the short Scoop (1982), which won an Honorable Mention at the 1983 USA Film Festival.

He and Terminator co-star (although they had no scenes together) Paul Winfield were both from the DFW area of Texas.

He was offered the role of Sgt. Proctor in Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985), which he turned down because the contract required him to also work in the future sequels. He ended up doing Aliens (1986) instead. The role went to Lance Kinsey.

He was considered for the lead role of Alan Parrish in Jumanji (1995), which went to Robin Williams.

Following his untimely death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California.

Worked as a parking lot attendant.

He was of English, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, Austrian, German, French, Swiss, Dutch, and distant Welsh and Norwegian, descent.

He appeared as a sheriff in the music video "Eat You Alive" by the rock band Limp Bizkit (2003).

Bill's paternal grandfather was a friend and neighbor to the great American painter Thomas Hart Benton.

He was considered for the role of Jake Brigance in A Time to Kill (1996) that went to Matthew McConaughey.

He was the original choice for Mo in Hardware (1990). He was enthusiastic about the script, but Miramax and Palace Pictures did not know anything about him, so they did not contact his agent, and Paxton signed on for Navy Seals (1990) instead. Dylan McDermott got the role.

He was considered for Matthew Broderick's role in Godzilla (1998).

He has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Terminator (1984), Apollo 13 (1995) and Titanic (1997).

He was considered for the role of Lt. Gabriel Cash in Tango & Cash (1989) that went to Kurt Russell.

Alumnus of Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

He was briefly attached to the lead role of Bobby Cooper in U Turn (1997) when Sean Penn turned it down. About a week before filming, Paxton backed out; fortunately, Penn had become available.

In the movie One False Move (1991), his character Dale Dixon was nicknamed "Hurricane." In the movie Twister (1996), his character Bill Harding was nicknamed "The Extreme" for his affinity for chasing tornadoes.

Revealed via the Tony Blackburn, Sounds of the 60s broadcast, 18 March 2017, the comparative rhythmical similarity of a 1963 song "Just like Eddie", by Heinz Burt, to the performance within Club Dread (2004) by the late Bill Paxton.