´Apollo 13´, ‘Titanic’ star Bill Paxton dies at 61

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood actor Bill Paxton, best known for his roles in such blockbusters as "Apollo 13" and "Titanic," has died at the age of 61, a family representative said Sunday.

The versatile Texas-born actor was a familiar face on US movie screens, with a string of memorable credits.

"It is with heavy hearts we share the news that Bill Paxton has passed away due to complications from surgery," a statement from a family representative said.

"Bill began his career in Hollywood working on films in the art department and went on to have an illustrious career spanning four decades as a beloved and prolific actor and filmmaker."

Although the statement did not indicate the time of death, Rolling Stone magazine said he died Saturday.

One of Paxton´s earliest character roles was as a thug in the 1984 film "The Terminator," and he left his mark as the ill-fated Private Hudson in the 1986 sci-fi thriller "Aliens."

Paxton played the part of Fred Haise, one of the astronauts on the Apollo 13 lunar mission, in the 1995 drama of the same name.

In 1997´s "Titanic," he played a treasure hunter in the present leading an obsessive search for the sunken ship.

More recently, he played the patriarch of a Utah polygamist family in the acclaimed HBO show "Big Love," which aired from 2006 to 2011.

Tributes poured in on social media.

"Nooooo. Bill Paxton is gone. Such a funny, talented, loving human. Louise & the children & family my love and & support 2 u. #truelies," tweeted Jamie Lee Curtis, whose character was seduced by Paxton playing a used car salesman in "True Lies" (1994).

Another former co-star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, wrote: "Bill Paxton could play any role, but he was best at being Bill -- a great human being with a huge heart. My thoughts are with his family."

The actor was nominated for an Emmy Award for the television mini-series "Hatfields & McCoys," about a bitter blood feud between two families in the aftermath of the US Civil War.

He won a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the cast of "Apollo 13" and was nominated for the same award for his roles in "Titanic" and "Hatfields & McCoys." He also won Golden Globes nominations for his parts in "Big Love" -- for which he was nominated three times -- and "A Bright Shining Lie" (1998).