Bill Bixby

Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993) 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, in the ABC miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man as Willie Abbott, and the CBS science-fiction drama series The Incredible Hulk as Dr. David Bruce Banner.

Early life A fifth-generation Californian of English-Scottish descent and an only child, Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III was born on January 22, 1934, in San Francisco, California. 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 1946 his mother encouraged him to take ballroom dance lessons, and from there he began dancing at various city events. 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 graduating from high school in 1952, he majored in drama at City College of San Francisco, against his parents' wishes. 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.

Later he attended the University of California, Berkeley, his parents' alma mater, and left just a few credits short of earning a degree. He explained that he had only been majoring in pre-law because it was what his parents expected of him, and he finally asked his parents to instead give him five years to find out if he could succeed as an actor. He hoped to work in musical comedy, and in 1961 he joined the cast of the musical The Boy Friend at the Detroit Civic Theater.

He returned 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 joined the cast of The Joey Bishop Show in 1962, which he later described as his "first big break."

In a 2011 interview with Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith about how Bill Bixby's fame was supposed to posthumously honor him for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Cruz said, "When I found out they were putting this out, I thought, 'It's about time.' Bill Bixby had an amazing body of work, not only Courtship of Eddie's Father, but My Favorite Martian, The Magician, The Incredible Hulk, and so many other things, as an actor, as a director — and he never got an Emmy. He's never been recognized posthumously by the Academy. And he doesn't have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That is criminal.... There are people who have stars that, not to be blunt, but I wouldn't bother spitting on their stars. Bill's talent would take a couple of blocks of stars compared to them. It really demeans the whole thing that Bill is not included."

1973 to 1977 In 1973, Bixby starred in The Magician. The series was well liked, but lasted for only one season. An accomplished amateur magician himself, he hosted several TV specials in the mid-1970s which featured other amateur magicians, and was a respected member of the Hollywood magic community, belonging to The Magic Castle, an exclusive club for magicians. During the show's popular, although short-lived, production, Bixby invited a few old friends along to co-star such as Pamela Britton (in her final role), Kristina Holland, and Ralph O'Hara.

Also in 1973, he starred in Steambath, a play by author Bruce Jay Friedman, on PBS with Valerie Perrine and Jose Perez.

Bixby became a popular game-show panelist, appearing mostly on Password and The Hollywood Squares. He was also a panelist on the 1974 revival of Masquerade Party, which was hosted by Richard Dawson. He had also appeared with Dawson on Cop-Out, an unsold 1972 pilot produced by Chuck Barris, and on the 1972 revival of I've Got a Secret. In 1974–1975, he directed four episodes of the eighth season of Mannix, guest-starring as Mannix's friend-turned-villain in one of the episodes.

In 1975, he co-starred with Tim Conway and Don Knotts in the Disney movie The Apple Dumpling Gang, which was well received by the public.

Returning to television, Bixby worked with Susan Blakely on Rich Man, Poor Man, a highly successful television miniseries in 1976. He played a daredevil stunt pilot in an episode of the short-lived 1976 CBS adventure series Spencer's Pilots, starring Gene Evans. In 1977, he co-starred in the pilot for the television series Fantasy Island; starred in "No Way Out", the final episode of the NBC anthology series Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (known in the United Kingdom as Twist in the Tale); and appeared with Donna Mills, Richard Jaeckel, and William Shatner in the last episode, "The Scarlet Ribbon", of NBC's Western series The Oregon Trail, starring Rod Taylor and Andrew Stevens. Bixby directed two episodes of The Oregon Trail.

In 1976, he was honored with two Emmy Award nominations, one for Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in Drama or Comedy for The Streets of San Francisco and the other for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in Comedy or Drama Series for Rich Man, Poor Man. When Bixby was offered the role, he declined it – until he read the script and discussed it with Johnson. The success of the pilot (coupled with some theatrical releases of the film in Europe) convinced CBS to turn it into a weekly series, which began airing in the spring of 1978. The pilot also starred Susan Sullivan as Dr. Elaina Marks, who tries to help the conflicted and widowed Dr. Banner overcome his "problem" and falls in love with him in the process. In a retrospective on The Incredible Hulk, Glenn Greenberg declared Bixby's performance to be the series' "foremost" strength, elaborating that he "masterfully conveyed the profound loneliness and tragedy of Dr. Banner while also bringing to the role an abundance of warmth, intelligence, humor, nobility, likability, and above all else, humanity."

During the series' run, Bixby invited two of his longtime friends, Ray Walston and Brandon Cruz, to guest-star with him in different episodes of the series. He also worked on the series with his friend, movie actress Mariette Hartley, who later starred with Bixby in his final series, Goodnight, Beantown, in 1983. Hartley appears in the well-regarded double-length episode "Married",

The series was cancelled after the following season, but leftover episodes aired as late as the next June. Bixby later executive-produced and reprised the role in three television movies – The Incredible Hulk Returns, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and The Death of the Incredible Hulk – the last two of which he also directed, and the first of which he has been said to have unofficially co-directed. and The Elvis Conspiracy (1992).

Bixby made his last acting appearance in 1992, guest-starring in the television movie Diagnosis Murder: Diagnosis of Murder.

He finished his career by directing 30 episodes (in seasons two and three) of the NBC sitcom Blossom.

Personal life and death Bixby's first marriage was to actress Brenda Benet. 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. Benet committed suicide the following year. The two deaths profoundly impacted Bixby; years later his home was still filled with pictures of Christopher, and he confessed to reporters that he would often speak to Christopher when he was alone. Though Bixby felt he had recovered following the treatment, a year later the symptoms returned, and Michaels divorced him shortly after.

In late 1992, friends introduced Bixby to the artist Judith Kliban, widow of the cartoonist B. Kliban. He married her in October 1993.

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. He also counselled other cancer patients.

Filmography

Film

Television

Production credits

Television