A handsome, genial TV actor and director, Bixby got his first break playing a journalist who befriends a stranded alien on the CBS sitcom, "My Favorite Martian" (1963-66). He started his career as a model, turning to acting in the early 1960s with small parts in series ("The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis") and films ("Lonely Are the Brave", 1962, "Irma la Douce", 1963). In 1963 he got his big break, playing the nervous, clean-cut reporter on "My Favorite Martian". His second hit series was the comedy-drama "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (1969-72); Bixby lent warmth and depth to his role as a
