{"id":294,"date":"2025-12-13T17:13:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T17:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/?p=294"},"modified":"2025-12-13T17:13:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T17:13:02","slug":"the-hidden-illness-that-took-this-hollywood-legends-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/?p=294","title":{"rendered":"The hidden illness that took this Hollywood legend\u2019s life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Bixby: The Actor Behind David Banner Who Left Too Soon
\nBorn in 1934, this gifted actor and television director built a career that stretched more than three decades. He became a household name as David Banner in the late \u201970s and early \u201980s\u2014yes, the man tied to that unforgettable warning: you wouldn\u2019t like him when he\u2019s angry. Sadly, his life ended far too early in 1993.<\/p>\n

For over 30 years, American television benefited from his talent both in front of the camera and behind it, with colleagues often pointing to his natural warmth as a major part of his appeal. Ray Walston once summed it up perfectly:<\/p>\n

\u201dI believe that was the reason people liked him \u2014 instantly and completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The star in question, of course, is Bill Bixby.<\/p>\n

Big break in 1963
\nBill Bixby\u2014born Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III on January 22, 1934, in San Francisco\u2014grew into one of TV\u2019s most recognizable faces, later expanding into directing with equal skill.<\/p>\n

An only child, he discovered a passion for performance early, joining the speech and debate team at Lowell High School. He went on to attend City College of San Francisco and UC Berkeley, though he ultimately left school to pursue acting full-time. In those early years, he supported himself through modeling and commercial work before landing steady television roles.<\/p>\n

His major breakthrough came in 1963 with My Favorite Martian, where he played reporter Tim O\u2019Hara, paired with Ray Walston\u2019s unpredictable alien. The series ran for three seasons, turning Bixby into a familiar name in living rooms across America.
\n\"\"
\nFrom there, he continued building a strong TV r\u00e9sum\u00e9. He starred as widowed father Tom Corbett in The Courtship of Eddie\u2019s Father, a role that earned him three Emmy nominations. Later, he took on the lead in The Magician as stage illusionist Anthony Blake, a short-lived series that still developed a devoted cult following.<\/p>\n

But for many fans, his defining performance remains Dr. David Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (1978\u20131982). He later returned to the character in three made-for-TV movies\u2014two of which he also directed: The Trial of the Incredible Hulk and The Death of the Incredible Hulk. Along the way, he appeared in films like Lonely Are the Brave and guest-starred on popular shows including Fantasy Island and Murder, She Wrote, showing range far beyond a single iconic role.
\n\"\"
\nHis son died at 6 years old
\nBehind the scenes, Bixby\u2019s life carried deep heartbreak. He divorced his first wife, actress Brenda Benet, in 1980. In 1981, tragedy struck when their six-year-old son, Christopher, died suddenly from a rare throat infection.<\/p>\n

A year later, Benet died by suicide\u2014another devastating loss. Even with grief trailing him, Bixby kept working and gradually moved more into directing during the 1980s. His directing credits included series such as Goodnight, Beantown and Sledge Hammer!, and he later became a regular director on Blossom.<\/p>\n

In the 1970s, he was often described as one of Hollywood\u2019s most eligible bachelors. Despite the attention, he remained guarded about fame and social scenes, once saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a very private person. I rarely go to cocktail parties because I can\u2019t stand the idle chatter of drunks. My weekends are spent at Malibu. I take a lady and got ot the beach and enjoy the beauty of the beach and the lady,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eventually, he did marry. He wed Laura Michaels in 1990, but they divorced in 1991, the same year he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Bixby spoke candidly about the illness, hoping to encourage others to seek help, and shared a quiet, personal hope:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy prayer was that I would die in my sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Months before his death, he married Judith Kliban on October 3, 1993. His health declined rapidly. On November 15, while directing Blossom, he was so weak he worked from a sofa. Kliban cared for him at their home near Century City until he slipped into a coma and died on November 21, 1993, at 59. She later recalled:<\/p>\n

\u201dI prayed for some extra time, but what we got was really intense and quite fabulous.\u201d
\n\"\"
\nLegacy
\nBill Bixby\u2019s legacy remains firmly tied to television history: his chemistry with Walston in My Favorite Martian, his warmth in The Courtship of Eddie\u2019s Father, and his grounded humanity as David Banner in The Incredible Hulk. He also left a strong imprint as a director, proving his talent wasn\u2019t limited to acting.<\/p>\n

Outside of work, he enjoyed Chinese cooking, bridge, music, and gardening\u2014small comforts that rounded out a life that carried both fame and profound loss.<\/p>\n

Even today, many fans continue revisiting his work through streaming and digital platforms, keeping the memory of this classic TV star very much alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Bixby: The Actor Behind David Banner Who Left Too Soon Born in 1934, this gifted actor and television director built a career that stretched more than… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":180,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions\/299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ponews24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}