The film actor Bill Paxton has died following complications after an operation. He was 61 years old. Paxton is best known by space aficionados for his role in the science fiction action film Aliens (1986) and starring as astronaut Fred Haise in the movie retelling of the true story of the Apollo 13 (1995) disaster. He was lead actor in Twister (1996), the scientific disaster movie about tornados, and appeard in Titanic (1997) which used a fictionalised story to convey the famous 1912 shipping disaster.
Latterly, in the 2000s, his television career gained him awards including for the HBO series Big Love about the Mormon practice of polygamy, and for the Western TV series Hatfields and McCoys (2012).
We give Bill Paxton our tribute and our condolences to his family and friends.