Bill Bixby Movies
Prior to his first TV appearance on a 1961 episode of Dobie Gillis, Bill Bixby had been a college student (he dropped out of UC Berkeley in his senior year), a lifeguard, a male model, and a regional stock-company actor. Bixby went on to play small roles in films like Lonely Are the Brave and Irma La Douce, and was featured in the Broadway comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree. In 1963, he graduated to TV stardom with the role of Tim O'Hara on the popular sci-fi sitcom My Favorite Martian. Anxious to change his "wholesome" image after Martian ended its three-year run in 1966, Bixby accepted a small but flashy role as a cowardly villain in the big-screen Western Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966). Like it or not, however, Bixby's future lay in sympathetic parts on episodic television. In each of his subsequent starring series -- The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969-1972), The Magician (1973), The Incredible Hulk (1978-1982), True Confessions (1984), and Goodnight Beantown (1983) -- Bixby frequently did double-duty as actor and director. He also directed such made-for-TV movies as Barbary Coast (1974), Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind (1991), and the Roseanne/Tom Arnold vehicle The Woman Who Loved Elvis (1993). Long one of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors, Bixby finally took the marital plunge with actress Brenda Benet; the union ended tragically when Benet, distraught over the death of her son, Christopher, committed suicide. Bixby's second wife was Judith Kliban, daughter of magazine cartoonist B. Kliban. At the time of his death from prostate cancer, Bill Bixby was principal director of the TV series Blossom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Although it never quite escapes the pitfalls of pretension, this film was Kirk Douglas's bid for the affections of the art house crowd, and it remains one of his best efforts. The star plays unreconstructed "rugged individual" Jack Burns, who rides throughout the modern west knocking down man-made fences. Visiting his equally rebellious friend Paul Bondi (Michael Kane), Burns deliberately gets himself thrown in jail to be nearer his pal. Frustrated that Bondi doesn't want to join Burns on the road, Burns breaks out of jail, thereby becoming a fugitive. His trail is dogged by Sheriff Johnson (Walter Matthau), a frustrated frontiersman who secretly admires the freewheeling Burns. Meanwhile, a truck driver (Carroll O'Connor) is ominously driving down the highway with a truckload of toilets. If you think there's supposed to be some symbolism in this seemingly peripheral character, you're absolutely right. Bill Raisch, a genuine amputee who played the one-armed man on TV's The Fugitive, is Douglas' surly opponent in the café brawl sequence. Filmed on location in New Mexico, Lonely are the Brave was adapted by Dalton Trumbo from Edward Abbey's novel Brave Cowboy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, (more)
- 1962
Bill Bixby guest-stars as the wealthy and spoiled-rotten Ronald Bailey. Arrested for sideswiping a produce truck with his expensive sportscar, young Bailey is tossed into the Mayberry jail by Andy and Barney. Far from chastened by his experience, the arrogant Ronald fully expects his influential father to bail him out-and to make Andy apologize for his insolence. Originally aired on January 15, 1962, "Bailey's Bad Boy" was written by Ben Gershman and Leo Solomon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Written by Rod Serling, this 60-minute Twilight Zone episode gets under way when a U.S. Navy destroyer begins picking up unusual sounds on its sonar. Investigating, a frogman finds the remains of a sunken submarine -- and hears the sound of clanking from within. This information has a profound effect on the destroyer's chief petty officer Bell (Mike Kellin), and Captain Beecham (Simon Oakland) wants to find out why. Future TV leading man Bill Bixby appears in a supporting role. "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" was first telecast January 10, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mike Kellin, Simon Oakland, (more)
- 1963
- Add My Favorite Martian [TV Series] to QueueAdd My Favorite Martian [TV Series] to top of Queue
Making its CBS network debut on September 29, 1963, in the same Sunday night time slot previously held down by Dennis the Menace, My Favorite Martian starred Ray Walston as the title character, an affable, hyper-intelligent and extremely resourceful space alien whose one-man flying saucer crash-landed on a lonely stretch of California highway. Rescued by Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby), a reporter for "The Los Angeles Sun," the martian is taken to Tim's house to recover from his injuries. At first intending to capitalize on his house guest by turning in the news scoop to end all news scoops, Tim was persuaded not to give away the martian's true identity. Thus, the space visitor would ever after be passed off as Tim's "Uncle Martin," consigned to remain on earth until he was able to repair his damaged vessel. Although human in virtually every respect -- he spoke even better English than Tim -- Uncle Martin had all sorts of remarkable powers, including the ability to teleport himself from one place (or time) to another; to telekinetically move objects through the air; and to make himself invisible. The viewer was always tipped off that Uncle Martin was about to make Martian magic when his tiny retractable antennae emerged from his head. Inasmuch as this was a sitcom, it should not be surprising that Uncle Martin usually exercised his powers to get the hapless Tim out of a jam. Also in the cast was Pamela Britton as Tim's widowed landlady, Mrs. Lorelei Brown, who had a bit of a crush on the likeable Uncle Martin; Alan Hewitt as Detective Bill Brennan, Lorelei's erstwhile boyfriend, who had a sneaking suspicion (which he could never verify) that there was something very odd about Uncle Martin; and during the first season only, Anne O. Marshall as Lorelei's teenaged daughter, Angela, and J. Pat O'Malley as Tim's editor, Mr. Burns. Filmed in black-and-white during its first two seasons and in color for its third and final year on the air, My Favorite Martian ended its network run on September 4, 1966. A Saturday morning cartoon spin-off, My Favorite Martians, was seen on CBS from 1973 to 1975. In 1999 there appeared a theatrical feature adaptation of the original series, with Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Martin, Jeff Daniels as Tim O'Hara, and Ray Walston in a key supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Walston, Bill Bixby, (more)
This romantic comedy opens with a resounding warning: its chief concerns are passion, bloodshed, desire, and death. "Everything," exclaims the narrator, "that makes life worth living." Irma La Douce (Shirley MacClaine) is Paris' most prosperous prostitute. Wise, endearing, and compulsively clad in green, Irma rules the rue Casanova. She triumphantly works the most coveted corner on a street where the cops gladly look the other way and the naughty johns leave tips. Her street is a content community of live and let live and good-natured desire, an Augean stable of human understanding. However, to upright Nester Patou (Jack Lemmon), the area's new policeman, genial wrongdoing is still wrongdoing. Freshly promoted from day patrol at a children's playground, the scrupulous Nestor arrests Irma and her colleagues in a bumbling, unauthorized raid. He takes pity on Irma, but harasses the guilty johns -- including the police captain. Promptly unemployed, Nester returns to the scene of his crime, the rue, and to Irma. After physically besting her pimp, Nester unwittingly takes his position. The two fall madly in love, but Nestor quickly grows jealous of Irma's patrons. Thus, he masquerades as a wealthy English aristocrat and becomes Irma's sole customer -- only to eventually grow violently jealous of himself. Soon enough, this formally righteous cop is comically jailed for his own brutal murder! As the film's prologue promises, Irma La Douce is a celebration of life from beginning to end -- unabashedly adoring lust, emotion, fervor and, above all, foolish love. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
- 1963
Jack Lemmon stars as Hogan, who lives a bachelor's dream as the manager of an apartment building that caters only to single women. Hogan likes to romance his tenants, and he sets his sights on a newcomer named Robin (Carol Lynley). Robin and her boyfriend David (Dean Jones) have moved in together, intending to see how compatible they are while maintaining a platonic relationship. This arrangement is the result of a suggestion from Irene (Edie Adams), a marriage counselor who is subletting her apartment to Robin while living with her own boyfriend, Charles (Robert Lansing). Irene thinks that Robin and David need to discover whether they are suitable as marriage partners without letting sex cloud their judgment. Hogan finds out about the arrangement and schemes to get David away so he can seduce Robin. The film is based on a hit stage play by Lawrence Roman. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Carol Lynley, (more)
Filmed in black-and-white, season one of My Favorite Martian begins literally at the beginning, when Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby), young reporter for the "Los Angeles Sun," slows down his snazzy sports car long enough to investigate a strange object that has crashed on the side of the highway. Out pops what looks like an ordinary middle-aged man (Ray Walston), dressed in a silver lamé spacesuit. When the stranger looks up and barks petulantly, "What do you expect me to say, take me to your leader?" Tim realizes that he has stumbled upon a visitor from Mars, and that the wreckage next to him is that of a one-person spaceship. Taking the martian to his home to recuperate, Tim envisions a Pulitzer Prize for filing a story about meeting an extraterrestrial being, but the martian persuades Tim to keep his true identity a secret, at least until he can repair his spaceship and return to his own planet. Tim's landlady, Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton), is told that Tim's house guest is his "Uncle Martin" -- and Uncle Martin he will remain for the duration of the series. The rest of the first season is devoted to various demonstrations of Uncle Martin's awesome powers, and of Tim's strenuous efforts to prevent the authorities from finding out he has a martian in his bedroom. Two characters appear throughout season one, never to be seen in any subsequent season: Mrs. Brown's teenaged daughter, Angela (Anne O. Marshall), and Tim's dyspeptic editor Harry Burns (J. Pat O'Malley). Despite its somewhat awkward early Sunday evening time slot (smack dab opposite the popular Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color), My Favorite Martian closed out its inaugural season as America's tenth most popular program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Bixby, Ray Walston, (more)
As My Favorite Martian enters its second season, young newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby) has become quite accustomed to having a martian as his house guest. He has also come to take for granted the fact that his "Uncle Martin" (Ray Walston) has a super-genius I.Q., is able to travel through time and space by means of teleportation, can move objects through the air by simply pointing his finger, and can turn invisible at the drop of a hat (or in his case, the raising of an antenna). As for Uncle Martin, he regards Tim as a good friend and excellent company, but he is still rather impatient with his forced stay on the primitive planet Earth, and continues to try to repair his damaged spaceship, which is kept hidden in Tim's garage. Meanwhile, Tim's landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton) has developed something of a crush on Uncle Martin, never suspecting that her tenant is from another planet. Indeed, no one suspects that there is something amiss about Uncle Martin except for a new character introduced in season two, Mrs. Brown's erstwhile boyfriend Detective Bill Brennan (Alan Hewitt). Like Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, Brennan suspects that Uncle Martin isn't quite who he claims to be, and goes to great lengths to uncover his secret -- and, like Gladys Kravitz, Brennan is invariably foiled and humiliated by the resourceful extraterrestrial. After climbing to tenth place in the ratings during its first season, My Favorite Martian didn't even crack the Top 30 during season two, which may explain why the producers altered the format a bit for its third season, and also hyped its audience appeal by switching from black-and-white to color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Bixby, Ray Walston, (more)
- 1965
The third and final season of My Favorite Martian found the series switching from black-and-white to color, and also making a few adjustments in its format. The basic premise remains the same: a misplaced martian (Ray Walston) has crash-landed on Earth and has moved in with young newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara (Bill Bixby). While the martian endeavors to repair his damaged spaceship, Tim protects the visitor from the authorities by passing him off as his "Uncle Martin." This charade is swallowed hook, line, and sinker by Tim's landlady Mrs. Lorelei Brown (Pamela Britton), who has a bit of a crush on Uncle Martin. Lorelei's detective ex-boyfriend Bill Brennan (Alan Hewitt) can't help but notice that strange and magical things happen whenever Martin is around, thus arousing Brennan's suspicions big time. During season three, Brennan would continually try to alert his police chief boss Roy Engle to Martin's curious behavior, only to be repeatedly made a fool of by the clever and resourceful extraterrestial. What is radically different about the third season is that Uncle Martin has begun transporting himself and Tim through various historical periods, by means of a time machine of his own invention. In the two-part season opener, Martin and Tim are hurtled back to the Old West, where they meet Bill Brennan's grandfather (also played by Alan Hewitt) and embark upon a search for gold, an ore needed for Martin's crippled space vehicle. In later episodes, the two time travelers land in Hollywood during the silent movie era, attempt to solve one of history's most baffling jewel robberies, have a dangerously close encounter with Frank and Jesse James, bring a nonplussed Leonardo Da Vinci back to the 20th century, and, in the series' final episode, inadvertently talk the Indians out of selling Manhattan Island to Peter Minuit, thereby doing considerable damage to the time-space continuum! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Bixby, Ray Walston, (more)
Told via flashback by a saloon keeper to a census taker in a tiny Texas town, this brutal, adult-oriented western offers the tale of a drifter who settles down to marry a woman he doesn't love so he can get at her inheritance. When that is exposed, the drifter flees and does not return for eleven years. He rides back into town with a fortune that he earned while hunting buffalo. The town's crooked banker and two thugs ride out to greet him. Thinking that the only way the reprobate could have gotten so much money is from rustling cows, they engineer a brutal reception that results in his being branded with a big "T." Naturally, the drifter passes out during his painful ordeal and when he finally comes to and learns the truth about the situation immediately gallops off to get his bloody revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Michael Rennie, (more)
- 1966
Ordered to destroy a German bridge, Saunders (Vic Morrow) and Littlejohn (Dick Peabody) make their way to a command post in hopes of getting reinforcements. But the post has endured heavy enemy fire and the extra troops have scattered--leaving behind only four disreputable GI prisoners who were being held for court-martial. This slimmed-down precursor to The Dirty Dozen features impressive dramatic performances by two sitcom veterans: Bill Bixby (My Favorite Martian and Bill Gray (Father Knows Best). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this comedy, an aspiring singer finds herself single and pregnant. The story begins when she is rushed to the hospital to give birth. She is joined by three men; all of them want to marry her. The story of her pregnancy and her rise to stardom are told in flashback. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Dee, George Hamilton, (more)
Elvis Presley plays Scott Heyward, the son of a Texas oil millionaire in this thin storyline. Scott changes places with the poor but honest water-skiing instructor Tom Wilson (Will Hutchins) to find out if women love him for himself or his money. Tom goes to the posh penthouse previously occupied by Scott, and Scott takes over as the instructor. Scott's father Duster (James Gregory) blows a gasket when he finds out what his son is doing. Boat builder Sam Burton (Gary Merrill) talks Scott into driving his new boat in the big race. Elvis delivers 8 songs in one of the more lackluster vehicles of his 1960s film catalogue. A bevy of beauties, some exciting race scene, and glossy production all help this one across the finish line. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, (more)
Steve Grayson (Elvis Presley) is a swinging racecar driver whose manager Kenny (Bill Bixby) has bet his money on the horses. Most of the horses didn't win, causing Steve to be visited by IRS agent Susan Jacks (Nancy Sinatra). Gale Gordon plays Hepworth, her stuffy supervisor, and William Shallert has the role of Abel Esterlake, former racecar driver who helps Steve on the track. Steve engages in the stock-car races at the Charlotte Speedway to get back the money to keep him and his manager out of jail. Presley delivers 11 songs, the most notable being "Let Yourself Go." Elvis by now was just playing out the innocuous string of movies that his musically insensitive, cigar-chomping manager Colonel Tom Parker had contracted for him. Soon Elvis would undertake the most successful live comeback by any performer in history and leave these trashy features behind. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Nancy Sinatra, (more)
- 1968
The title character in the episode is a well-trained but ill-tempered Alsatian, who is the only witness to the murder of a sweet old lady. It turns out that the victim was anything but a paragon of virtue--in fact, she may well have been an accomplished con artist. What Ironside (Raymond Burr) finds curious is the fact that the old lady was killed in a manner similar to several other recent murders...in which all the victims were elderly males. Former football pro and future movie action star Fred Williamson appears as a detective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Bill Bixby sheds his "lovable sitcom hero" persona in the role of smooth-talking psychopath Tom Dayton. Seven years after killing the fiancee of Sgt. Ed Brown (Don Galloway), Dayton is delcared to be "safe" by the authorities and is given his freedom. But Ed is convinced that Dayton's pathological hatred for female authority figures will soon resurface and tragedy will result unless the man is put out of commission permanently. This final episode of Ironside's third season features a flashback sequence in which Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr) is able to move around without his wheelchair--presumably to squash the then-prevalent rumor that star Burr was genuinely paralyzed from the waist down! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
We know that Bill Bixby plays a swinging bachelor because he wears bell-bottoms. Opening the door of his bachelor pad one evening, Bixby is surprised to meet a personable young man claiming to be his son. He is further surprised that the young man is fully grown, the result of an indiscretion some twenty years earlier. Karen Jensen plays Bixby's girl friend, none too thrilled that she has a potential younger brother. Mixing in some reasonably touching moments with its standard comedy setpieces, Congratulations, It's a Boy is a satisfying effort from ABC's Movie of the Week series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Contrary to popular belief, "B" pictures didn't die in the 1970s; they just changed their classification to "ABC Movies of the Week". First telecast December 5, 1972, The Couple Takes a Wife is a by-the-numbers screwball comedy with a spirited all-TV cast. Career-minded couple Bill Bixby and Paula Prentiss just don't have time to watch the kids or attend to the housekeeping. So they advertise for a "wife", to assume wifely duties around the house. Enter Valerie Perrine, who takes her job very seriously-much to the dismay of real wife Prentiss. Myrna Loy, a seasoned veteran of this sort of frothy fare, appears as Prentiss' mother, while other key roles are filled by Nanette Fabray and Robert Goulet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
In this comedy, some clever amateur basketball players create an interesting and highly rewarding variation of the popular sport. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1973
This TV movie stars Bill Bixby as a professional magician who is wrongly accused of a crime and sent to prison. Upon his release, Bixby swears to fight criminals and wrongdoers and to champion the underdog, using his prestidigitory skills to accomplish this. The film proudly states in its prologue that all the illusions seen during the story are actual magic tricks, minus special camera effects--though it strains credibility to assume that Bixby carries a prop for every occasion to confound the crooks at a moment's notice. The Magician was transformed into a weekly 60-minute series in the fall of 1973. The series lasted only one season, the victim of executive indecision over whether to play the series straight or with tongue in cheek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bruce Jay Friedman's acclaimed off-Broadway play, which offers a decidedly unusual perspective on the afterlife, is brought to the screen in this production originally created for public television. Tandy (Bill Bixby) is a New York Police Department employee who suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself enjoying a steam at a public bathhouse overseen by an elderly Hispanic gentleman, Morty (Jose Perez). As the evening wears on, Tandy and Morty are joined by several other guests -- a stock trader (Kenneth Mars), a cabbie (Stephen Elliott), an attractive woman (Valerie Perrine), and a schlubby nebbish (Herb Edelman) -- and it begins to dawn on Tandy and his companions that they've all recently died, and that the steam bath is actually the waiting room to the next life, where Morty is judging their fates. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Bixby, Jose Perez, (more)
- 1974
The eighth and final season of Ironside begins with the first episode of a two-part story. Believing herself possessed by the malevolent spirit of her dead brother, college coed Susan Todd (Sian Barbara Allen) confesses to the murder of her mother. Suspecting that Susan is not telling the truth, Ironside (Raymond Burr) consults a psychic to determine the murderer's actual identity. Meanwhile, Susan's somewhat sinister psychoanalyst Theodore Gallin Bill Bixby lurks ominously in the background. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
The made-for-TV Barbary Coast is a tongue-in-cheek western in the Maverick tradition, produced by a former writer-director of that series, Douglas Heyes. Dennis Cole plays Cash Conover, a San Francisco saloonkeeper of the 1870s. William Shatner co-stars as Jeff Cable, an undercover policeman who works hand in glove with Conover to fight crime on the Coast. Conover and Cable team up with the lovely Cleo (Lynda Day George) to tackle a vicious mob, headed by one Diamond Jack Bannister (Michael Ansara). Throwing a bit of Wild Wild West into the stew, Cable pops up from time to time wearing disguises and sporting outrageous accents. First telecast May 4, 1975, Barbary Coast was the pilot for the short-lived TV series of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In the conclusion of Ironside's Season Eight opener, Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr) now knows that college coed Susan Todd (Sian Barbara Allen) was not truly responsible for the murder of her mother. The real villain of the piece is Susan's deranged psychiatrist Theodore Gallin (Bill Bixby), who specializes in brainwashing his patients to do his bidding. The situation takes a truly sinister turn when Gallin "programs" policewoman Fran Belding (Elizabeth Baur) to kill Ironside! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Bill Bixby guest stars as Charles Pine, a former government agent turned professional assassin. Hired by a group of fanatical right-wingers, Pine prepares to kill a Chinese diplomat visiting the U.S.--all the while keeping the woman in his life (Linda Marsh) from interfering with his sinister mission. Cast respectively as a retired military officer and a nurse are Andrew Duggan and Peggy McCay, who twelve years earlier had costarred in the ABC sitcom Room for One More. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
