
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 24, 1993                   TAG: 9311240116
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY RICHMOND LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Medium

BILL BIXBY APPROACHED HIS ROLES - AND HIS LIFE - WITH CONVICTION

Bill Bixby, who died quietly Sunday afternoon at his Century City home after a valiant battle with cancer, was always one of those actors you took for granted, and thus perhaps never gave the credit he deserved.

He starred in "My Favorite Martian" in the mid-1960s, but Ray Walston snared the acclaim. He was the proud papa in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" in the early '70s, but his adorable pint-size co-star, Brandon Cruz, stole everyone's heart.

And then, in "The Incredible Hulk," Bixby was upstaged by his comic-book superhero alter ego, played by Lou Ferrigno.

But whatever he did, Bixby brought a certain humanity and conviction to the table that made him intensely likable. If he was forever doomed to play second-fiddle to a Martian, a monster and a squeezable tot, he managed to make his presence felt nonetheless.

More to the point, the man was a class act.

While "My Favorite Martian" probably was more popular, it was "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" that provides the more poignant and enduring legacy in illustrating Bixby's modest impact.

"Eddie's Father" premiered on ABC in the fall of 1969 (running until 1972), starring Bixby as a widowed magazine publisher and Cruz as his freckle-faced son.

Besides being an unusually touching comedy, "Eddie's Father" marked the first time that a father-son relationship was depicted with such warmth - complete with scenes of dad strolling on the beach with son propped on his shoulders, ruminating about life and nature.

It sounds a little bit corny today, perhaps. But back in '69, this sort of close paternal bond was unusual, even risky. Dads were supposed to be involved but aloof, wise but detached - like they were on "My Three Sons," "The Brady Bunch" and "Mayberry R.F.D."

"Eddie's Father" made it OK - not wimpy - for fathers to embrace their children unabashedly and with all of their heart. In Bixby's own small way, he opened a door to a more realistic and loving single-parent approach in TV entertainment.

Bixby died two months short of his 60th birthday. And by all accounts, he scrapped and clawed until the end, inspiring all who crossed his path in the way he demonstrated how to live with cancer rather than die with it.

It spoke volumes that Bixby worked until six days before his death directing episodes of the NBC comedy "Blossom," even when his body was racked with pain that forced him to pop medication almost hourly.

On location for a "Blossom" taping, Bixby was puttering vigorously around the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills as recently as Oct. 11, when he gave what would be his final interview.

"This cancer thing has to stop me, because I'm not going to stop," Bixby said at the time.

You got the feeling that Bixby was taking steps that in his mind staved off the inevitable.

He got married a mere seven weeks before his death because, well, how could a newlywed die?

He continued to work even after the cancer traveled from hisprostate to his bones, bladder and liver, because staying active meant he still was living.

Yet, Bixby nonetheless remained realistic that October day.

"I'm in something resembling a mending process," Bixby said. "But please, I don't want to give false hope either to myself or to other people. All I can assure them is I won't give up."

He never did.

by CNB