"Stripes" has a large cast of actors on the cusp of stardom, including a few whose presence may be unknown to casual viewers. Dennis Quaid, who was married to P.J. Soles at the time of filming, is credited as an extra in a party scene, and Timothy Busfield plays a soldier with a mortar, but the late, great Bill Paxton also turns up briefly as one of Winger and Russell's fellow recruits. He has no lines in the film, and serves largely as a background player. In a 2017 interview with Yahoo that spanned his entire career, Paxton discussed his brief appearance in the mud-wrestling scene, and his experience working with Bill Murray.
Paxton appeared in "Stripes" at the very beginning of his career, when he was also logging minor roles in horror movies like "Mortuary," the occasional TV show, and one-offs like a Nazi radio operator in Pat Benatar's video for "Shadows of the Night." It was also during this period that he directed, starred in, and single-handedly selected his smelly co-stars for "Fish Heads," an early MTV sensation that went "viral" before it was even a term; Rolling Stone would later pick Paxton's short film for the Barnes and Barnes novelty hit as the 47th best music video of all time. Paxton's tenacity even got the clip a slot on "Saturday Night Live."
His minor turn in James Cameron's "The Terminator" led to a lengthy collaboration with the director which included "Aliens," "True Lies," and "Titanic"; by the 1990s, Paxton had transitioned from character player to supporting and lead roles in "Apollo 13," "A Simple Plan," "Twister," and the TV series "Big Love." His final screen appearances came in the 2017 TV series "Training Day"; Paxton died following open-heart surgery on February 25, 2017 at the age of 61.
