Bill Bixby Spirit

.. I am no longer with the rest of you, I passed away on November 21st, 1993
at the age of 59..... from Prostate Cancer. To be honest with you I am at peace now. I have been reunited with my son Christopher, and the mother of my Son.... Brenda.

I am happy to be reunited with some of my old friends like Ray Walston (1918-2001) my former co-star and would you believe my old friend Elvis is here too! It was really good to see Elvis again, I hadn't seen him since a few years after we did the movie Speedway together.

You know alot of you really have no idea how rough my life really was while I was there.

Sure, I mean I made good money, I had a nice home,

and material possessions over the course of my life....

I have No Regrets mind you.

I was very lucky to be discovered in Los Angeles at age 23,

and within my first two years I was on Television.

By age 29 I was starring in My Favorite Martian with Ray,

and life was good for about 3 years, then the show got canceled.

Well, I went on to enjoy the Bachelor life,

and for about the next 3 years I started to make some Movies like,

"Ride beyond Vengeance" (1966)

and also

"Doctor you gotta be kidding" (1967)

Then of Course I got to work with

Elvis in

"Clambake" (1967)

and then a movie

called

"Speedway" (1968)

I got involved with a little show some of you

baby boomers may remember called

" The Courtship of Eddies Father "

with my young co-star Brandon Cruz.

The show was an instant hit, and ran for 3 years until 1972.

I have to say, during that time I got married to Actress Brenda Benet

(After her divorce from child Actor Paul Petersen in 1970)

during the course of the show,

Brandon and I were very close,

and Brenda and I began discussing having children of our own.

Brenda and I got Married on the Fourth of July, 1971

I got involved with another television series called "The Magician" in 1973.

Unfortunately, it got off to a bad start...

the television series was just getting off the ground when a Hollywood Writers Strike Started,

and of course it is hard to write a show without writers!

Add to that the fact my Character, Magician Tony Blake was flying around in a 747 Airplane,

while the rest of you were

waiting in long gas lines to purchase gasoline on Odd and Even Days!

Well, The Magician lasted about 20 Episodes,

and then it had to be canceled.

Brenda and I got to costar in one episode, before the series was canceled.

and the show basically just "disappeared" from the Air Waves.

Meanwhile, Brenda and I had our first child together,

son Christopher Sean Bixby was born in late 1974.

and did not get past the Disney hit "The Apple Dumpling Gang",

when I struck another hit on television called

"The Incredible Hulk" which ran from 1977-1981)

Unfortunately, the pressures of success put a strain on my marriage,

Brenda and I ended up getting a divorce in September of 1979.

Then, on top of my broken marriage, right in the middle of Success....

My Son Christopher died of a rare infection while on a Skiing trip with his mother.

Christopher began to have trouble breathing.

His mother rushed him to a hospital where he died tragically, caused by Acute Epiglottitis.

The coroner's report listed Christopher's death as one that could have been prevented.

He was only six years old, (almost seven) when it happened,

the doctor tried to insert a breathing tube down his throat,

and he suddenly went into cardiac arrest and died in March of 1981....

by April of 1982,
Brenda committed Suicide .
I don't really like to talk about it,

but I needed to take a break from television for a while.

I did go back to television for a short while in 1983,with costar Mariette Hartley,

in a show called "Goodnite Beantown".... it did not last very long at all.

I went on to make a four more "Incredible Hulk Specials" in the late eightys, and early Ninetys.

I always enjoyed Directing. I was the Director for the Television Show

"BLOSSOM"

right up until the time of my death in 1993.

I worked right up until the end, and I did not even tell my co-workers that I had been diagnosed with Cancer, at least not right away.

They knew something was wrong but

I did not want them to worry about me, We had a Show to do!
Click the Spirit License Plate Below to see my Last TV Interview