Actors - Bill Bixby

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	Actors - Bill Bixby

Bill Bixby (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993), was an American actor, director and frequent game show panelist who starred in three popular American television series that spanned nearly two decades, as Tim O'Hara in My Favorite Martian (1963–1966), as Tom Corbett, the title role in The Courtship of Eddie's Father
(1969–1972); and as Dr. David Banner in The Incredible Hulk (1978–1982) with Lou Ferrigno. He also starred in The Magician (1973) and in a short-lived comedy, Goodnight Beantown with Mariette Hartley in 1984.

Early life

He was born Wilfred Bailey Bixby, a fourth-generation Californian, in San Francisco, California where his father, Wilfred Everett Bixby, was a store clerk and his mother Jane Bixby, was a department store owner. 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. He competed in high school speech tournaments regionally. After graduation, against his parents wishes, he majored in drama at San Francisco City College and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, the same university his parents went to.

After he graduated from college, he moved to Hollywood where he had a string of odd jobs that included bellhop and lifeguard. He organized shows at a resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In 1959, he was hired to work as a model and to do commercial work for General Motors and Chrysler.

Television career

In 1961, Bixby went to Detroit, Michigan, where he was in the musical, "The Boyfriend," at the Detroit Civic Theater. He then returned to Hollywood where he made his acting debut on an episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and as a character actor. As his name became popular, he guest-starred in many other situation comedies and TV series such as Ben Casey, The Twilight Zone, The Andy Griffith Show, Dr. Kildare, Hennessey, among many others. He also joined the cast of The Joey Bishop
Show in 1962.

My Favorite Martian

Bixby auditioned in 1963 for a new sitcom, My Favorite Martian on CBS, where he received a co-starring role as young news reporter, Tim O'Hara, who befriended an extraterrestrial played by Ray Walston. The show was a ratings winner in its first year, and it was ranked #10 for primetime programming. Also, Bixby often had the knack of comedic timing. But by 1966, bad scripts and high production costs forced the series to come to an end after 107 episodes.

Film work

After the cancellation of Martian, Bixby starred in four box-office movies: Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966), on which he played the evil, Johnsy Boy Hood, You've Got to Be Kidding (1967), and two of Elvis Presley's movies, Clambake
(1967), and Speedway
(1968). Bixby turned down the role as Marlo Thomas's boyfriend in That Girl and starred in two failed pilots.

The Courtship of Eddie's Father

In 1969, Bixby starred as Tom Corbett in another successful sitcom, The Courtship of Eddie's Father
for ABC, about a widowed father who wants to spend more time with his son while dating women. It was based on the popular 1963 movie, starring Glenn Ford and Ron Howard. His co-star on the show was Brandon Cruz, with whom he developed a close relationship. He was nominated for a Emmy Award for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, but did not win. The following year, he won the Parents Without Partners Exemplary Service Award for 1972. He also made his directorial debut on the show in 1970, and would occasionally lost his cool when orders were not followed. By its final season, Courtship started to lose points in the ratings, and Bixby had an argument with James Komack which caused more friction. It was cancelled in 1972 after 78 episodes. Two years after Courtship, was off the air, Bixby called series star Brandon Cruz, and told him that he and Benet had Christopher. After his real-life son's, Christopher's death in 1981, Bixby confided in Cruz about this and stayed connected together for the next decade, just before Bixby's own death.

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