Actor and star of Aliens

Born: May 17, 1955;

Died: February 25, 2017

BILL Paxton, who has died aged 61, was a character actor who developed a cult following for his memorable supporting performances in some of the biggest movies of the 1980s and 90s, particularly Aliens, the 1986 sequel to Alien, in which he played the nervous, drunken soldier with a talent for one liners.

Paxton's great skill in all his films was to bring a reliably human dimension to big-budget action adventures and science fiction that might otherwise be all about the special effects. Science fiction fans have noted that he was the only actor to be killed by a Predator, a Terminator and an Alien.

The Texas native appeared in dozens of movies and television shows throughout his career, but particularly memorable was True Lies, the 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie in which he played a lecherous used-car salesman, and Apollo 13 a year later in which he played an astronaut whose very human frailties are exposed when the space mission goes wrong.

Paxton was born in Fort Worth, Texas and seemed to be around when history was made, both on and off screen. As a boy, he was in the crowd that welcomed John F Kennedy in Texas on the morning of November 22, 1963, hours before the president was killed in Dallas.

As a young man, he also worked in the art department for "B'' movie king Roger Corman, who helped launch the careers of numerous actors and filmmakers. Paxton often spoke warmly of his upbringing, and how his father exposed him early to movies and the stage.

He got his start on the big screen in Crazy Mama in 1975, and went on to star in some of the most popular films of the 1980s, from a brief appearance as a blue-haired punk opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator.

But despite starring in several big-budget movies, Paxton was primarily known as a character actor, playing everyday people in films such as One False Move, A Simple Plan and Nightcrawler.

Major film roles waned in the 2000s but a television career blossomed.

He received three Golden Globe nominations for his role as a polygamist in the HBO series Big Love.

In 2012 he was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in the civil war drama Hatfields and McCoys, alongside Kevin Costner.

The actor also worked behind the camera, directing feature films The Greatest Game Ever Played and Frailty.

Paxton had been starring in the CBS drama Training Day when he died. The network has not yet announced whether it will continue to air the completed episodes.

Paxton himself was famously genial and approachable and did not define his career by his Hollywood success.

''I'm a frustrated romantic actor," he said in 2006. "I wanted to play the Bud part in Splendour in the Grass, I wanted to play Romeo — the great, unrequited, tragic love stories. I've gotten to mix it up a bit with the ladies but the romance has been a subplot, running from the tornado or whatever.

"I feel like I'm a regionalist and a populist who's never fit in among the intellectuals. I think there's where the heart of American art is. My greatest roles have been in regional films, whether it was One False Move or Frailty or Simple Plan or Traveller."

One of the industry's busiest actors, Paxton once said the hardest part of his career wasn't the work itself, but the time in between.

"You know all the time I've been in this business which is a long, long time now, I go from having incredible days like shooting the part of Sam Houston and then all of a sudden I'm home and I'm out of work and it's two o'clock in the afternoon, I'm in my boxer shorts watching Turner Classic Movies," he said in 2015. "And all I can tell you is, thank God for Turner Classic Movies and Robert Osborne."

A family representative said in a statement: "It is with heavy hearts we share the news that Bill Paxton has passed away due to complications from surgery. Bill's passion for the arts was felt by all who knew him, and his warmth and tireless energy were undeniable."

Paxton is survived by his wife of 30 years, Louise Newbury, and their two children. His first marriage, to Kelly Rowan, ended in divorce.