The Resilience of an Icon: The Career and Courage of Bill Bixby

Bill Bixby, born Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III in 1934, was a quintessential figure of the American television landscape whose career spanned over three decades of significant influence. After leaving UC Berkeley to pursue acting, he transitioned from modeling and commercials to becoming a household name with his 1963 breakthrough in My Favorite Martian. Playing the relatable reporter Tim O’Hara alongside Ray Walston, Bixby established an immediate rapport with audiences—a quality Walston described as a natural, complete likability that defined his entire public persona. This early success set the stage for a prolific career where Bixby would not only excel as a performer but eventually as a respected director, solidifying his place as a versatile mainstay in living rooms across the nation.

While he enjoyed steady work throughout the 1960s and 70s, Bixby’s legacy is most firmly anchored by two emotionally resonant roles: the widowed father in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father and the tortured Dr. David Banner in The Incredible Hulk. His performance as Tom Corbett earned him three Emmy nominations, showcasing a warmth that felt authentic to his off-screen character. However, it was his grounded portrayal of David Banner—warning audiences that they “wouldn’t like him when he’s angry”—that became an indelible part of pop culture history. Bixby treated the role with a level of humanity that elevated the genre, later reprising and directing the character in television movies, proving his technical skill behind the camera matched his on-screen charisma.

Behind the bright lights of Hollywood, Bixby’s personal life was marked by a series of profound and private tragedies that he navigated with immense grace. Following a divorce in 1980, he suffered the sudden loss of his six-year-old son, Christopher, to a rare infection, followed shortly by the tragic death of his ex-wife, Brenda Benet. Despite these heavy burdens, Bixby remained a “very private person,” eschewing the hollow chatter of the social scene in favor of quiet weekends at Malibu. He channeled his grief into his craft, increasingly moving into directing hit shows like Blossom, where he was known for a professional rigor that persisted even as his own health began to fail.

The final chapter of Bixby’s life was a courageous battle against prostate cancer, a diagnosis he received in 1991 and spoke about candidly to encourage early detection in others. Even as the disease weakened him, he continued to direct, famously working from a sofa on the set of Blossom when he could no longer stand. He found a final pocket of happiness with his 1993 marriage to Judith Kliban just months before his passing at the age of 59. Today, Bixby is remembered not just for the iconic roles he occupied, but for the resilience and warmth he maintained through a life of extraordinary highs and devastating lows, leaving behind a body of work that remains a staple of television history.