BIll Bixby In TV Mirror March of 1971

[Lady T]

I recently purchased this old 1971 Entertainment magazine called TV Mirror from March of 1971. Inside is an article on Bill Bixby that I would like to share with other Bixby fans



BILL BIXBY
#1
LOVER-BOY


What he does to keep the title...how he enjoys it! P.S. So does the girls!


Someone once said, "if they ever award an Emmy for girl-chasing, it would be an all-out, nocontest, thumbs up victory for Bill Bixby!"
Surprised? Don't be! Both on screen and off, Bill Bixby is the biggest and best girl-chasing bachelor on the Hollywood scene. As soon as Bill learned "girls were different from boys" he was chasing them all over his part of San Francisco. "Even then, when I was 3, I loved them all! And each girl I loved for a different quality, just as I do today". Bill is definitely a ladies' man, but he's no Don Juan who just wants to babying from each new conquest. "I do not need mothering" Bill says. When he dated voluptuous Yvonne Craig, he thought she was a "fine girl". But, he adds "she must protect and mother somebody, and I'm not the type who needs that."
Two years ago after they broke up, Bill saw Yvonne again. "I took her out to dinner and we realized we were not made for each other. We were both opinionated and very stubborn, and we held fast."
It's certainly no secret to anyone who knows Bill well that he's a stubborn, firm believer in his own convictions. He's also a dreamer, but in his case it's better to say a realistic dreamer. "I firmly believe that anyone can get anthing he wants. For instance, I wanted to be an actor, and I am one. I wanted to be a star, and now I'll be one!".
Most girls admit he's a pretty hard man to turn away. Handsome, muscular, green-eyed and sandy-haired, much younger looking than his 36 years, his magnetic personality just won't be turned off till he gets what he wants.
For Bill, his women must be "interesting and intelligent, as well as attractive." When he finds that certain lady and the electricity that is needed is there, then and only then will he relinquish bachelorhood.
"I've always been vulnerable to marriage," says Bill. "But I will only marry when I can no longer live without this lady. Yes, I call this girl a lady. When I like her, she's my lady. It's the lady in the woman who makes a gentleman out of a man."
As vulnerable as he claims to be toward marrying, Bill's played a very elusive game so far, in avoiding the final ceremony. This man just loves to run around. Dating pretty girls and lots of them is Bill's big thing.
"There have been periods," recalls Bill, "when I have dated 30 girls in a six-month period, rarely any of them repeats." Call him moody: "Sometimes I want to go out sometimes then there are times I want to stay in. Girls complain "Gosh, arent we going anywhere?".
Call him a swinger: "I sewed my wild oats while I was a pool manager at a hotel...Girls! Girls! Girls!".
Call him what you will, there's only one Bill Bixby. But there are many Bill Bixby girls.
Sometimes, he goes out with a girl just because she is attractive. "It's great for the ego and makes me feel wonderful to date a pretty girl." He'll go out with another girl because he finds her "fascinating"." He'll date a thrid girl "because she has a good sense of humor."
"I may date another girl because I feel she needs me."
If so many girls find Bill exciting and attractive, and vice-versa, and he realizes that they need him, why won't he marry?
"Actors are insecure," answers Bill. "They don't know if they will get work the next day. And that's why I've avoided marraige."
But that doesn't sound quite right. Bill Bixby is a very big success. He's financially secure and The Courtship of Eddie's Father is doing very well.
Perhaps part of Bill's never-ending resistance to marriage comes from a very real, hurting experience he once endured.
"I was going to get married in San Francsico once, but it did not work out."...
"She left me to marry another guy...It took me 6 moths to get over the pain of being rejected, but I worked and kept busy. The pain did not wear off, but it got numb."
After Bill was jilted, he needed something quickly and desperately to get his mind off his emotional nightmare. "I called my agent and said, 'I need activity, and if I don't work I'll go nuts!'
"Now that I look back," says Bill, "I realize how hard I plunged myself into my career and how I bounced back so fast. My career took so much time and energy for me to be upset."
As proud as that statement sounds, Bill was very much hurt, and perhaps more than he care to admit. A close friend says the hurt has been long and lasting. But there is a lot of strength in Bill Bixby, not only he-man muscular strength, which he lean quick body and powerful grip communicate to you immediately, but also a strength of the mind and spirit.
He is an idealist, a firm believer in the power of self. "I have been able to achieve my ideals. I say: ' Dream as high as you wants and you may get there!' I am truly the Candide of the western world!"
He is daring, and brash and unafraid to say what he feels. He believes in himself at all times, even on the show.
"I am playing exactly what I am. I love to chase girls! I have romances on the show, but adult romances. Real! Believable! Sometimes on the show I am sure the viewers will figure I have been to bed with the girl. It is implied. But making a moral issue out of going to bed is trivia, and we do not want trivia on the show.
"Much of the my attitude toward women comes from my romance with Yvonne Craig. After two years, I knew we could not make it. But we have no regrets that we had a relationship."


Not Feminine? Not for Bill!

Much of Bill's love philosophy centers about the idea that the man is the pillar of the relationship; he is the aggressor. He openly dislikes aggressive women.
"When I go out with a girl, she's my lady. I am gallant and sensitive to her needs. But when she becomes masculine, that's the end of the romance!
"The lady can test me in a relationship all she wants. I do not mind the lady testing me, but not contesting me. When she contests me, then I will treat her like a man. Men complete. I will then assume she is a man, and has abandoned women's privileges.
I do no like what has happened to the American male-the bumbler-with the woman coming to his rescue to save the situation," Bill says. "It is a shame so many men have given up their responsibility to act like men. They are scarcely men anymore!"

Bill owns a beautiful bachelor house overlooking the San Fernando Valley. It is here that he indulges himself in all the hobbies and pursuits married men do not have the time for. He is a painter of abstracts, has done some interior decorating, and has a perchant for whipping up some Bixby bonanza meals.
As seemingly open and aggressive and manly as Bill is, he is actually perfers to be called a "loner." He got himself that big house in the hills so he could get away from it all, and also so he could have complete privacy with his lady friends. It is a fine looking house, yellow and white, with a 30-foot panoramic window looking out from the den. It has a wooden sundeck that runs behind the house all the way up front working itself into a porch. The interor is accented with bright happy colors. He's repainted, redecorated, added new fixtures in and out. It is very warm inside-red and white burlap walls, wood-weave drapes, and a big red rug on the den floor.
Bill surprises many of his new dates by asking them to his house for a homecooked meal instead of store-bought mean. Bixby's cruisine is quite famous with the girlfriends all around town. He leanred the culinary skills during his earliest bachelor days when he found it cheaper to dine at home than in the perennial single man's corner restaurant.
It is no problem for Bill to whip up a first glass meal that would embarass some of Hollywood's finest eateries. Bill's found that the old adage of "best way to a woman's heart is through her stomach" rings true every time.
Still, Bill insists: "A bachelor's life is the only life for me. Freedom, privacy,, variety--a guy would have to be nuts to give it up. A bachelor has 100 to 1 better odds on almost anything, including the leisure and means to go off and live in a tree, if he feels like it."
Besides dating, Bill spends his leisure time skydiving, motorcycling, skiing, surfing, even skateboarding. But he's the first one to admit that his bachelor days are drawing to a close.
"I have got to get married and have a kid," he confesses. "I love kids! you should have children because you want to have children in a happy marriage. The show has verified my feelings that I ought to have children. I want a lady that I can love, and will want to have children with me.
"I like children, and if you like children they will have an empathy for you."
He tells kids, "I like you for what you are!" They respond to him easily. "They are very physical," says Bill. "I'm physical too!".
But all of those kids Bill loves will not comes without marriage, and he is still ducking. "Most of the girls I date", says Bill "are actresses. They are after the same carrer I am after, and often this means a clash in interests. I certainly do not look forwardto competing with my wife."
When Bill first began achieving fame in My Favorite Martian, he was dating his co-star Kathy Kersh, winner of ten beauty contests and Miss Rheingold of 1962, His first meeting with the extraordinarily beautiful girl was one incidnet he shall never forget.
"When the show first began," recalls Bill, "we were testing 12 girls for the love interest in the show. I had to kiss each one to see the reaction. I did not mess around" he laughs. "It was a nice day's work!
I wiped off the lipstick after each clutch while the crew asked, 'Well, how was that one?'.
"Then Kathy came on. All I know is that I did not let go when the director yelled 'cut'. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Kathy was right for the part.
"I was scared when I took Kathy out the first time because she was so beautiful. That first date I dressed formal. I took her to a hotel for dinner, then on to a premiere. It was dull. But then, when I took her home, she kicked off her shoes and we had coffee and talked till the sun came up."
After breaking up with Bill, Kathy went on to marry Vince Edwards, have a child, then divorce him and marry Bart Ward on Batman. She had another child, then divorced Ward.
"Kathy is the type of girl that you can take anywhere," Bill recalls. "I like to have her along on a ' dirty clothes' date. I mean a date that is just real informal. After a long hot day in a business suit, I like to don khakis and a sport shirt and take off to the beach, or a walk in the hills, or even go to a neighborhood movie. Kathy looks great in anything. We could go a million places together."
What is Bill's favorite kind of date? " I love a movie, some hotdogs and popcorn. Actually, as long as I enjoy the person I am with and she enjoys me, I do not care where we go on the date. The person is the important thing."
I think that dating many girls has given me a greater insight into the various kinds of personalities many women have. By understanding people's personalities, I can find out what I can contribute to a realtionship and what the girl can contribute to me. This kind of understanding between two people can help to make a successful tie between a man and a woman.
"Girl chasing has it's advantages," says Bill with a twinkle in his eye. "Meeting as many girls as I do, I have leanred how to discriminate between what I like and what I do not like. This way when I finally meet the girl who is right for me to marry, I will know for sure."
Bill used to date beautiful brunette Brenda Benet, but she went off and married Paul Petersen. Now she has broken up with Paul and is back dating Bill, and will be seen on Eddie's Father playing Bill's girlfriend.
Bill needed only one date after his broken romance with Yvonne Craig to realize the fire was cold, and the ashes could not be rekindled. But he's been having more than one date with Brenda, and for the first time Bill's is taking a stronger second look at a former girlfriend. Obviously, he likes what he sees, and he wants to see her more often.
Brenda, older, more experienced, and probably a bit wiser today, has a new allure for that tired old girl chaser Bill Bixby. Any day now, he may slow up just long enough for Brenda to catch him...


Christopher Denis
March 1971

[Pitooey]

Cool article.........

I've always liked him and I didn't know what a playboy he was. I had a huge crush on Bill growing up. This article was very informative...

[Lady T]

Originally Posted by Pitooey

Cool article.........

I've always liked him and I didn't know what a playboy he was. I had a huge crush on Bill growing up. This article was very informative...

Thanks I also thought the article was very interesting; he did settled down that same year and married Brenda Benet in July of 1971. They had a son together and the marriage lasted for nine years. So in a way, Bill did give up his "Playboy" ways.