Bill Bixby -- Not Forgotten

Anybody who owned a television in the 70’s would recognize this bulging green muscled beast, the classic Marvel comic that made its print debut in 1962 and came to life on the small screen in living rooms across America. The mild Robert Bruce Banner who suffered from a nuclear experimental accident would transform to the Incredible Hulk when angered or in pain.

Most people recognize the face of Wilfred Bailey Bixby the Third, but know little about him. He was born on January 22, 1934 in San Francisco, California. His father was a sales clerk and he was an only child. After graduating from high school he attended San Francisco City College majoring in drama encouraged by his aunt but not by his parents.

His parents wanted him to gain a stable educational background so he enrolled in pre-law at University of California-Berkeley but dropped out just short of a few credits of graduating. Bill enlisted in the military for a brief time and upon completion moved to Los Angeles, struggling to make ends meet he had various jobs, a bellhop and a lifeguard.

His great looks caught the eye of a modeling executive and he landed work in Detroit, Michigan, sales model (commercials) for General Motors and Chrysler. While in Detroit, he joined the Detroit Civic Theatre Company and appeared in the musical, The Boyfriend. This was just enough to feed his desire to act so he returned to the west coast and to the land of lost dreams, Hollywood.

Determined to make it, he made his first television appearance on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959). After some short appearances he started to show up in popular TV shows like The Andy Griffith Show (1960), Dr. Killdare (1961), Combat (1962), It Takes a Thief (1968) and Ironside (1967). Some other great show appearances were on Night Gallery (1970), Love American Style and Streets of San Francisco.

Bill Bixby was considered at the time one of Hollywood’s most eligible bachelors and he was appearing with the famous singer Elvis Presley in two popular movies Clambake (1967) and Speedway (1968).

His real break was in 1977 when he stared in his own series entitled The Magician, as Anthony Blake, a wealthy magician who helped others in trouble. Ironically Bill was a real life magician. Unfortunately the series only lasted one year.

One major film he appeared in was Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) a great miniseries movie. In 1978 he appeared in the first of the Incredible Hulk series that he is best known for. Though he was the handsome Dr. Banner, his monster side was Louis Ferrigno, professional bodybuilder and actor.

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