Hollywood and the rest of the world dealt with another celebrity death this week: Bill Paxton, 61, died of complications from surgery last Feb. 24, Saturday. While his most recent projects were with television, Paxton had his share of memorable roles in the big screen. Here are five of his best movies.
1. Aliens (1986)
In “Aliens,” Paxton played the film’s ultimate scaredy cat as Private Hudson, who is part of a group of Marines sent out to battle the xenomorphs. According to Telegraph, his role made the film more interesting, showing how he transformed from “ultimate badass” to a “jelly-legged grunt” upon seeing the aliens decimate his fellow Marines.
2. True Lies (1994)
Paxton’s role in this Arnold Schwarzenegger-starrer was a small one, but playing the car salesman who was trying to seduce Jamie Lee Curtis gave the movie some life. His scenes with Curtis and later Schwarzenegger were hilarious, and he was able to pull off playing a creepy car salesman who only has one thing on his mind.
3. Apollo 13 (1995)
While Tom Hanks was the star in “Apollo 13,” Paxton played the role of Fred Haise, the Lunar Module pilot who was part of the aborted space mission in 1970. His character emphasized the tension with new team member Swigert (Kevin Bacon), who replaced an original mission team member Mattingly (Gary Sinise) when the latter got sick. Despite this and through the leadership of Lovell (Tom Hanks), he went on play his part in bringing all of them home to earth.
4. Twister (1996)
“Twister” is another box office hit for Bill Paxton but this time he plays one of the lead roles as Bill “The Extreme” Harding. This disaster film not only puts tornadoes on center-stage, it also takes a closer look at the dangerous lives of storm chasers. He convincingly played his role as a retired storm chaser who gets sucked back into the game because of circumstances and because he clearly enjoyed it.
5. Titanic (1998)
While most people remember “Titanic” as the love story of Leo and Kate, Paxton played an important role in it as well. Without Brock Lovett, that story would have not been told. Paxton as Lovett shows a mix of persistence and pushiness that would help Rose share her story.
Before his death, Paxton was working on “Big Love,” an HBO series about the head of a Mormon sect who practices bigamy. He also finished filming for a TV adaptation of “Training Day.”