Rob Lowe’s Tribute To Bill Paxton Might Be The Most Heartbreaking Yet

The Hollywood community was stunned this past weekend when 61-year-old actor Bill Paxton suddenly passed away due to complications from heart surgery. In addition to his age being a shock, Paxton always elevated any movie he was in and his performances were always some of the most memorable of the whole film. The actor was taken for granted and friends, family, and fans have all been robbed of countless fantastic performances. Actor Rob Lowe, who says Paxton was one of his closest friends, recently opened up to The Hollywood Reporter to explain how this tragedy has impacted him.

Lowe revealed that he first became friends with Paxton based on his acting choice in the film The Dark Backward. Lowe said, “Bill took such a big swing as an actor, he went for such a broad, gigantic choice in the take, I’ll never forget it. It blew my mind. Wow. ‘This guy has got huge balls,’ I thought. And we were friends ever since.”

The relationship continued to evolve when Lowe introduced Paxton to his kids. “The first time I ever took my kids fishing was with Bill and his son,” Lowe confessed. “It was up here in Santa Barbara where I live and all the kids went out and had a great time and fast-forward to 20 years later my son still fishes every weekend and that’s because of Bill.”

According to Lowe, Paxton constantly championed the people he believed in. “I wrote a screenplay once, for Bill to be in with me, and I’ll never forget my cell phone ringing and him saying, ‘Bobby, you gotta stand by. Jim Cameron is gonna call you, he’s read it and loves it.’ I was like w-w-wait what!?’ Lowe recalled. “And sure enough Jim called me and that led to a long flirtation where Jim was maybe going to produce it or maybe even act in it, and as we were trying to put it together, as luck would have it, I got The West Wing and nothing ever came of it. But again, that’s Bill, out there, stirring the pot, being a fan, being a cheerleader.”

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While playing John F. Kennedy, Lowe received a unique gift from Paxton. “Bill was just a fanatic for researching things,” divulged Lowe. “He came up with the exact aftershave JFK wore and sent it over to me. Oh, I wore it. I wore it every day on the set.”

While filming Titanic, Paxton compiled weeks of sketches while he was in the North Atlantic preparing for the role. Some of these sketches made their way to Lowe, among other friends. “Bill is very old-school chivalrous, understood grace notes, the importance of a handwritten letter, the grand gesture. He was very much a man out of his time in a way,” Lowe says of receiving these sketches.

From Lowe’s recollection, Paxton had doubts about his future in the industry. In one instance, Lowe remembered, “I can remember a moment when we were making Frank and Jesse, we were sitting on our horses, snow was coming down, Bill’s looking off into the distance, seeming a little melancholy and I said, ‘What’s the matter man, you good?’ and he goes, ‘Yeah buddy, I don’t know. You know I’m gonna be 40. And I just don’t think it’s ever gonna happen for me.’ And within six months, he went on one of the greatest roles an actor ever had. Twister. Titanic. Apollo 13.”

It was bittersweet for the actot to pass away on Oscar weekend, a massive celebration for Hollywood. However, Lowe said it was serendipitous. “Bill would’ve loved passing on Oscar weekend. He loved, loved, loved the art of moviemaking and storytelling like no one I’ve ever met,” Lowe points out.

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[H/T The Hollywood Reporter]