Timothy Bottoms


Timothy James Bottoms is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for playing the lead in Johnny Got His Gun ; Sonny Crawford in The Last Picture Show, where he and his fellow co-stars, Cybill Shepherd and Jeff Bridges, rose to fame; and as James Hart, the first-year law student who battles with Prof. Kingsfield, in the film adaptation The Paper Chase. He is also known for playing the main antagonist in the disaster film Rollercoaster and for playing President George W. Bush multiple times, including on the sitcom That's My Bush!, the comedy film The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course and the docudrama DC 9/11: Time of Crisis.

Early life

Bottoms was born in Santa Barbara, California, the eldest of four sons of Betty and James "Bud" Bottoms, a sculptor and art teacher.
He graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1970. During his time there he gained acting and singing experience during various theater productions.

Career

Bottoms made his film debut in 1971 as Joe Bonham in Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun. The same year, he appeared alongside his brother Sam in The Last Picture Show.. In 1973's The Paper Chase, he starred as Harvard law student Hart facing the fearsome Professor Kingsfield. Among the other films he has appeared in are Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing , The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder, Operation Daybreak, A Small Town in Texas, Rollercoaster ''Hurricane, Invaders from Mars and Elephant .
As a result of both a physical resemblance to U.S. President George W. Bush and an ability to impersonate his voice, Bottoms has portrayed Bush in three widely varying productions. In 2000 and 2001, he played a parody of Bush in the Comedy Central sitcom That's My Bush!; he subsequently appeared as Bush in a cameo appearance in the family film The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. Finally, following the September 11 attacks, Bottoms once again played Bush, this time in a serious fashion, in the TV film DC 9/11: Time of Crisis, one of the first films to be based upon the attacks.
He appeared in a recurring role during the first season of the FX series Dirt as Gibson Horne, owner of the magazine for whom the main character Lucy Spiller, played by Courteney Cox, worked.
He also co-produced the documentary Picture This – The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas, a behind-the-scenes work about the making of the films The Last Picture Show and Texasville. In the documentary, he revealed that he had a crush on his co-star Cybill Shepherd during The Last Picture Show, but she did not reciprocate his romantic feelings, even though she said in a separate interview that she found him "very attractive". He was also heavily featured in the Metallica video for "One", which featured footage of the film Johnny Got His Gun''.
In 2023, Bottoms released a novel entitled The Pier. The story follows a young boy out fishing for a day and the people and situations he encounters. The book was published by Tall Tales Press.

Personal life

He is the eldest brother of actors Joseph Bottoms, Sam Bottoms, and Ben Bottoms.
Bottoms has been married twice, first to singer Alicia Cory in 1975. They had a son before divorcing in 1982. His marriage to Marcia Morehart in 1984 produced three children.

Filmography

Film

  • Johnny Got His Gun as Joe Bonham
  • The Last Picture Show as Sonny Crawford
  • Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing as Walter Elbertson
  • The Paper Chase as Hart
  • The White Dawn as Daggett
  • The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder as Vrooder
  • Operation Daybreak as Jan Kubis
  • A Small Town in Texas as Poke Jackson
  • The Story of David as young David
  • Rollercoaster as Young Man
  • The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2 as John Boothe
  • Hurricane as Jack Sanford
  • The High Country as Jim
  • Tin Man as Casey
  • Hambone and Hillie as Michael Radcliffe
  • The Census Taker as Pete
  • What Waits Below as Maj. Elbert Stevens
  • The Sea Serpent as Pedro Fontán
  • In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro as Jack Ringtree
  • Invaders from Mars as George Gardner
  • The Fantasist as Danny Sullivan
  • Mio min Mio as The King
  • The Drifter as Arthur
  • Return from the River Kwai as Seaman Miller
  • A Case of Honor as Sgt. Joseph 'Hard' Case
  • Istanbul as Frank
  • Texasville as Sonny Crawford
  • Digger as Sam Corlett
  • Blue Sky as Owens Ranch Cowboy
  • Ava's Magical Adventure as Slayton
  • Ill Met by Moonlight as Egeus
  • Horses and Champions as Ben Choice
  • Top Dog as Nelson Houseman
  • Ripper Man as Charles Walkan
  • Hourglass as Jurgen Brauner
  • Desperate Obsession
  • American Hero as Jack Armstrong
  • Lone Tiger as Marcus
  • Total Force as Drake
  • Uncle Sam as Donald Crandall
  • ' as Clay
  • The Prince as John
  • Absolute Force as Lt. John Drake
  • Tiger as Larry
  • Mr. Atlas as Phillip Frodden
  • The Man in the Iron Mask as Fouquet
  • Mixed Blessings as Carl Weaver
  • Diamondbacks as Ed Williams
  • The Waterfront as Salvatore Solleto
  • No Rest for the Wicked as Father Jeremy
  • The Prince and the Surfer as Johnny Canty
  • The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes as John Carver
  • Black Sea 213 as Dean
  • The Hiding Place as Jack
  • Held for Ransom as Fred Donovan
  • The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course as President George Walker Bush
  • Elephant as Mr. McFarland
  • The Entrepreneurs as Rotunno
  • The Girl Next Door as Mr. Kidman
  • Illusion Infinity as Francis / Douglas / Henry / Patricia's Father / Older Alan
  • Pocket Angel
  • Paradise, Texas as Mack Cameron
  • Shanghai Kiss as Adelaide's Father
  • Along the Way as Michael McCaffery
  • Chinaman's Chance: America's Other Slaves as Thomas
  • Parasomnia as Dr. Emil Corso
  • '
  • An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong as Paul Maxwell
  • Call of the Wild as Heep
  • The Land That Time Forgot as Captain Burroughs
  • Pound of Flesh as Cameron Morris
  • Hello Stranger as Sheriff
  • 1 Nighter as Louie
  • Realm of the Mole Men as Willy
  • Welcome to the Men's Group as Larry
  • Railroad to Hell: A Chinaman's Chance as Thomas
  • The Shed as Ellis

    Television

  • Look Homeward, Angel as Eugene Gant
  • Winesburg, Ohio
  • The Story of David as David
  • The Moneychangers as Miles Eastin
  • The Gift of Love as Rudi Miller
  • A Shining Season as John Baker
  • Escape as Dwight Worker
  • East of Eden as Adam Trask
  • Love Leads the Way: A True Story as Morris Frank
  • Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun as Father Thomas O'Neil
  • The Hitchhiker as Peter
  • Island Sons as Tim Faraday
  • The Twilight Zone as Miley Judson
  • Freddy's Nightmares as Mr. Franklin
  • The Ray Bradbury Theater as Driscoll
  • Land of the Lost as Tom Porter
  • 500 Nations
  • Yakuza Connection as Ward Derderian
  • Personal Vendetta as Zach Blackwell
  • Death Game as Jack
  • Murder Seen as Detective Stepnoski
  • Gideon's Crossing as Rev. Chuck
  • That's My Bush! as George W. Bush
  • That '70s Show as Vice Principal Cole
  • DC 9/11: Time of Crisis as President George W. Bush
  • Ike: Countdown to D-Day as Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith
  • NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service as Ritt Everett
  • Jane Doe: Now You See It, Now You Don't as Clarence
  • Vampire Bats as Hank Poelker
  • Grey's Anatomy as Carl Murphy
  • Deceit as Martin Ford
  • Dirt as Gibson Horne
  • Holiday in Handcuffs as Richard Chandler
  • Deadly Suspicion as Sheriff Carl Lovett
  • Lone Rider as Gus
  • Bound by a Secret as Will Hutchinson

    Video game

  • Fox Hunt as Frank
  • American Hero as Jack Armstrong

    Producer

  • ''Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas''