Bill Bixby
Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993)[1] was an American actor and television director. His career spanned more than three decades, including appearances on stage, in films, and on television series. He is known for his roles in the CBS sitcom My Favorite Martian as Tim O'Hara, in the ABC sitcom The Courtship of Eddie's Father as Tom Corbett, in the NBC crime drama series The Magician as stage Illusionist Anthony Blake, and the CBS science-fiction drama series The Incredible Hulk as Dr. David Banner.[2][3]
Bill Bixby
November 21, 1993 (aged 59)
- Actor
- director
- producer
- game-show panellist
1959–1993
-
Laura Michaels(m. 1990; div. 1991)
-
Judith Kliban(m. 1993)
1
Early life[edit]
A fourth-generation Californian of English descent and an only child, Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III was born on January 22, 1934, in San Francisco, California.[4] His father, Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby II, was a store clerk. His mother, Jane (née McFarland) Bixby, was a senior manager at I. Magnin & Co. In 1942, when Bixby was eight years old, his father enlisted in the Navy during World War II and traveled to the South Pacific. While in the seventh grade, Bixby attended Grace Cathedral and sang in the church's choir. In one notable incident, he shot the bishop using a slingshot during a service and was kicked out of the choir. In 1946, his mother encouraged him to take ballroom dance lessons and from there he started dancing all around the city. While dancing, he attended Lowell High School, where he perfected his oratory and dramatic skills as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. Though he received average grades, he also competed in high-school speech tournaments regionally.
After graduation from high school in 1952, he majored in drama at City College of San Francisco,[5] against his parents' wishes.[2]
During the Korean War, Bixby was drafted shortly after his 18th birthday. Rather than report to the United States Army, Bixby joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve.[6][7][8][9][10] He served primarily in personnel management with Marine Attack Squadron 141 (VMA-141) at Naval Air Station Oakland, and attained the rank of private first class before his 1956 discharge.[11][12][13][14][15]
Later, he attended the University of California, Berkeley, his parents' alma mater, and left just a few credits short of earning a degree. He then moved to Hollywood, California, where he had a string of odd jobs that included bellhop and lifeguard. He organized shows at a resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and in 1959 was hired to work as a model and to do commercial work for General Motors and Chrysler.[1]
Career[edit]
Beginning acting[edit]
In 1961, Bixby was in the musical The Boy Friend at the Detroit Civic Theater, returning to Hollywood to make his television debut on an episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. He became a highly regarded character actor and guest-starred in many television series, including Ben Casey, The Twilight Zone, The Andy Griffith Show, Dr. Kildare, Straightaway, and Hennesey. He also joined the cast of The Joey Bishop Show in 1962. In 1963, he played a sailor with a Napoleon tattoo in the movie Irma La Douce, a romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder based on the 1956 French musical. During the 1970s, he made guest appearances on television series such as Ironside, Insight, Barbary Coast, The Love Boat, Medical Center, four episodes of Love, American Style, Fantasy Island, and two episodes each of The Streets of San Francisco and Rod Serling's Night Gallery.
Personal life and death[edit]
Bixby's first marriage was to actress Brenda Benet.[25] They were married in 1971, and she gave birth to their son, Christopher, in September 1974. They divorced in 1980. A few months later, in March 1981, six-year-old Christopher died while on a skiing vacation at Mammoth Lakes with Benet. He went into cardiac arrest after doctors inserted a breathing tube when he suffered acute epiglottitis.[26] Benet committed suicide the following year.[27]
Bixby met Laura Michaels, who had worked on the set of one of his Hulk movies, in 1989. They married a year later in Hawaii. In early 1991, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent treatment.[28][29] He was divorced in the same year.[30]
In late 1992, friends introduced Bixby to the artist Judith Kliban, widow of the cartoonist B. Kliban. He married her in October 1993.[31]
In early 1993, after rumors began circulating about his health, Bixby went public with his illness, making several appearances on shows such as Entertainment Tonight, Today, and Good Morning America, among others.[32]
On November 21, 1993, six days after his final assignment on Blossom, Bixby died of complications from prostate cancer in Century City, Los Angeles, California. He was 59 years old.[33]