Bill Dauterive
Encyclopedia
Bill Dauterive, born Gillaume Fontaine de la Tour D'Haute Rive (French for "William Fountain of the Tower of the Upper Bank") is a fictional character
on the Fox
animated series King of the Hill
. He is the Hills' overweight, divorced, and clinically depressed neighbor, voiced by Stephen Root
and named for series producer Jim Dauterive.
, and had performed in Southern plays in New York City
prior to being chosen for the role. He originally auditioned for the role of Dale Gribble
, which "didn't feel right" so he then auditioned for Bill.
family in Louisiana
, who lived on a vast estate called the Chateau D'Haute Rive ("castle on the high river") until his cousin Gilbert is forced to sell it. He speaks fluent Cajun French
and plays the accordion
skillfully, which surprises him just as much as it does everyone else. His father was abusive
, spanking him regularly, locking him in a rabbit hutch, and making him wear dresses. (Bill attempts to justify these actions when he mentions them.) His only living male relative is his dandified
cousin Gilbert, who still lives in Louisiana; the two are guardians of the family's secret barbecue sauce
recipe, which Gilbert refuses to allow Bill to sell. (However, Bill eventually gives the recipe to Bobby Hill
so he can pass it on to his children, thus keeping the Dauterive tradition alive).
Although overweight, short (he claims to stand 5 foot 8 and 3/4 inches tall), balding, and emotionally needy in his later years, Bill was a muscular, confident athlete with long flowing hair in his youth. Nicknamed the "Billdozer", he held Arlen High's career touchdown record until a young athlete named Ricky Suggs broke it years later. Ricky, however, is simply allowed to score the record-breaking touchdown by the other team due to a torn ACL
, rather than playing injured as Bill would have; to regain his honor Bill rejoins the team to score one last touchdown and re-tie the record (he had redshirt
eligibility due to being drafted to the Army during his senior year). Bill's bright future was derailed when he attended a Molly Hatchet
concert and found his future wife Lenore passed out in his lap; she would go on to cheat on and humiliate Bill before finally leaving him a broken shell of his former self. Although there appears to be several factors, it can generally be assumed that her leaving him was the major cause of his downward spiral. In the episode "Order of the Straight Arrow," Bill says "I'm so depressed, I can't even blink."
Bill is often a foil for his friends, who verbally and emotionally put him down on a regular basis, either because they don't realize how hurtful their remarks are or because Bill is too dimwitted to mind very much. He is the first person to be mentioned when any character refers to losers or bemoans a misfortune for fear their lives will be ruined, like his. For example, Hank, while telling Peggy that a lawn makes a man and gives him a purpose, says "Without my lawn, I am Bill," which disgusts Peggy as the thought of being with Bill nauseates her to no end. Bill, like Dale Gribble
and Boomhauer, has a strong admiration for Hank and often seeks his advice before doing anything, and for his help when in trouble. He occasionally gets dragged into Dale's crazy schemes, and often is the one who accidentally ruins them. Of all his acquaintances, Boomhauer
seems to be the one who gives him the most respect, possibly due to the fact that Bill once helped a brokenhearted Boomhauer get over a girl who dumped him. Bill has an obsessive crush on Peggy, and frequently makes bumbling, inappropriate remarks about her. Although his friends are often disgusted or frustrated at his stupidity and the number of times he has wrecked their plans, they were devastated when it appeared that he had sacrificed himself to save them when they were stuck on a military target zone, with Hank saying that he was a good friend - sweet, loyal, and brave. During their high school years as they have one last blowout in Bill's honor as he's being shipped off a drunken Hank stirs up a fight with a thug at a bar, but Bill intervenes and saves Hank.
When examining Bill's Army medical history, Dale discovered that Bill was unknowingly made part in an experiment called "Operation: Infinite Walrus
", to create a hybrid soldier capable of operating in freezing cold waters. It is assumed that the experimental drugs are the cause of his weight gain, excessive body hair, baldness, and terrible body odor and breath until it's revealed that he was in the experimental group given a placebo
. Bill is also shown to have a severe but easily treatable foot fungus, which actually comes in handy once to help Hank get revenge on a fraudulent mold
inspector. It was once indicated that Bill has diabetes, but then later contradicted by the inept diagnosing doctor, who says that he only said Bill was likely to get diabetes. Originally the doctor made it seem like Bill already had the condition and ultimately would need to use a wheelchair. (Later, Bill beats him up for this, with Hank standing guard.) Ironically, this "diagnosis" leads Bill to a depressed slump, where he meets Thunder, a wheelchair-using muscle man who plays a wheelchair-friendly version of Rugby
. This then leads Bill to get into better shape while playing the sport. He also has a foot fetish—finding Peggy's unnaturally over-sized feet very appealing.
Bill's personal hygiene and other habits are shown to be very poor. As previously mentioned he has severe foot fungus, terrible breath and body odor (when opening the hatch of a tank Bill had stolen, Hank believed there was a dead animal inside due to the smell). Various comments indicate that he doesn't shower or brush his teeth on a regular basis. Bobby states that he has dandruff in spite of being bald. He is regularly shown eating food he finds in or under his couch, and has even been shown to eat food without dishes (as in one episode where he was cooking himself spaghetti, where he broke his only plate and was forced to eat the spaghetti off of his counter and drink the jar of sauce he was going to serve with it). He dumps garbage directly out his kitchen window despite having a garbage can. He has been shown to fall asleep while eating snacks, which attracts animals into his bedroom, though he seems incredulous or apathetic to this. His bathroom is described as disgusting, when asked if they would rather endure a dangerous and painful stunt (ex. stick a wasp up your nose) or shower in Bill's bathroom, his friends always choose the former. When assigned tasks to get his house ready for a family reunion after Nancy and Peggy are assigned the bathroom, both are horrified and desperately try to change assignments.
", attempting to worm her way back into Bill's life when he became high profile while dating former Texas governor Ann Richards
. During the early seasons, he often pined for Lenore to return after she ran out on him, but he was somewhat successful in getting over her in the episode "Pretty Pretty Dresses" after Hank resorts to pretending to be Lenore. Bill then finally symbolically confronts Lenore for leaving him, and after being told "I don't love you anymore" he becomes enraged and yells "You don't deserve William Fontaine De la Tour Dauterive!". During "Hank and the Great Glass Elevator
", Lenore tries ordering Bill around in front of Ann Richards but he finally tells her off by mooning her. Other relationships include Luanne's mother Leanne Platter ("Leanne's Saga"), which ended when she reverted to her drunken violent ways and stole his truck, and Kahn's mother Laoma Souphanousinphone ("Maid in Arlen"), which was broken up by interference from Kahn, who convinced Bill that his mother was in love with astronaut
Harrison Schmitt
, but they then found out Kahn had been lying because seeing the two of them together disgusted him, however his mother is not seen again later in the series. He also had a brief, mostly sexual, relationship with two of his cousins' widows ("A Beer Can Named Desire"). In the episode "The Untitled Blake McCormick Project," Bill dates a woman named Charlene, and she even moves in with him, however Charlene's past with John Redcorn
complicates matters. In a later season, he dated Reverend Karen Stroup for a time and even moved her in with him, but eventually broke it off when he felt they were moving too fast. Due to his ability to keep going after virtually any rejection, Bill is the one able to snap Boomhauer out of his depression when rejected by a woman he truly had feelings for.
, barber in the United States Army
. Though his rank has been revealed through dialogue as being sergeant, his uniform does not bear sergeant rank or any other real US military insignia. He has never deployed in his Army career. He briefly served as a recruiter when his position was eliminated for being wasteful, but it was secretly restored when Hank donated a new chair, with a cover job as an electrician. It is revealed in one episode that as an athletic young man entering the army, he wanted to serve in the armored cavalry in a tank crew. He also was briefly a professional hair stylist with Luanne at the trendy salon Hottyz until it was discovered he wasn't homosexual. When he is engaged by other pursuits, such as when he toured with a choir group called the Harmonoholics or when he decided to run his own halfway house
, Bill uses up all his personal and sick days from the army almost to the point of going AWOL; otherwise he doesn't use them at all. He is described as being nice but often depressed and lonely; his overwhelming need to make people like him makes him easily taken advantage of, particularly by Dale.
In the episode "Bill of Sales" it is also suggested that Bill has emotionally masochistic tendencies—explaining his lust for Peggy. No one finds Bill more repellent than her—and everyone finds Bill very repellent. After learning this, Peggy's attempt to, in her words, "'motivate' him, business term, with a little 'praise', my term, he goes plumb loco, Spanish term." Hank's response, "You must have confused him; being dumped on is all Bill knows" leads Peggy to conclude that "Bill has had a hard life and he likes it that way" and subsequently refers to him as a "nut job". She manages to persuade him to go back to work for her by verbally abusing him. However, she soon fires him out of feelings of guilt for taking advantage of his low self-esteem. It's also during this episode that Bill shows exceptional skills as a salesman, helping Peggy achieve her sales quotas quickly. However it could be seen as Bill didn't want to betray Hank (afraid that Peggy was coming onto him), and the reason for going back to help Peggy was fear she didn't want to even talk to him anymore.
Despite Bill's complete infatuation with Peggy, she seems to loathe him just as much. She brings him a great deal of heartache, though it's not always intentional. For example, during a game of baseball, she once accidentally threw a bean-ball at his head, knocking him to the ground. She then mistakenly threw another at his crotch, putting him in excruciating pain and embarrassment. Another time, angry at his endless pursuit of her, she hit him once at a game and wound up knocking him off the bleachers- his arm later in a sling. She stole his prized American flag and accidentally destroyed it, driving him to absolute tears. Despite all of this, she says she considers him "a friend."
According to Drawn to Television by M. Keith Booker, Bill "is a lonely figure who adds a touch of pathos to the humor of King of the Hill, which is often bittersweet." Jim Bawden of the Toronto Star
describes Bill as a "sad sack
". Voicing Bill and a couple other characters on the show is Stephen Root's favorite job.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
animated series King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
. He is the Hills' overweight, divorced, and clinically depressed neighbor, voiced by Stephen Root
Stephen Root
Stephen Root is an American actor. He is best known for his comedic work on the TV sitcom NewsRadio, in the film Office Space and as the voice of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland in the animated series King of the Hill...
and named for series producer Jim Dauterive.
Production
Root used his background in Southern theater to help him develop the voice of Bill. Root attended the University Of FloridaUniversity of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, and had performed in Southern plays in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
prior to being chosen for the role. He originally auditioned for the role of Dale Gribble
Dale Gribble
Dale Alvin Gribble is a fictional character in the animated series King of the Hill. and is voiced by Johnny Hardwick . He is an exterminator, bounty hunter, smoker, gun fanatic, and paranoid believer of almost all conspiracy theories and urban legends...
, which "didn't feel right" so he then auditioned for Bill.
Personality
Bill is indicated as coming from an upper-class CajunCajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
family in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, who lived on a vast estate called the Chateau D'Haute Rive ("castle on the high river") until his cousin Gilbert is forced to sell it. He speaks fluent Cajun French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and plays the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
skillfully, which surprises him just as much as it does everyone else. His father was abusive
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, spanking him regularly, locking him in a rabbit hutch, and making him wear dresses. (Bill attempts to justify these actions when he mentions them.) His only living male relative is his dandified
Dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self...
cousin Gilbert, who still lives in Louisiana; the two are guardians of the family's secret barbecue sauce
Barbecue sauce
Barbecue sauce is a flavoring sauce or condiment ranging from watery to very thick consistency. As the name implies, it was created as an accompaniment to barbecued foods. While it can be applied to any food, it usually tops meat after cooking or during barbecuing, grilling, or baking...
recipe, which Gilbert refuses to allow Bill to sell. (However, Bill eventually gives the recipe to Bobby Hill
Bobby Hill (King of the Hill)
Robert Jeffrey "Bobby" Hill is a character on the animated series King of the Hill and is voiced by Pamela Adlon. Bobby is the only child of Hank and Peggy Hill.- Biography :...
so he can pass it on to his children, thus keeping the Dauterive tradition alive).
Although overweight, short (he claims to stand 5 foot 8 and 3/4 inches tall), balding, and emotionally needy in his later years, Bill was a muscular, confident athlete with long flowing hair in his youth. Nicknamed the "Billdozer", he held Arlen High's career touchdown record until a young athlete named Ricky Suggs broke it years later. Ricky, however, is simply allowed to score the record-breaking touchdown by the other team due to a torn ACL
Anterior cruciate ligament injury
An injury to the anterior cruciate ligament can be a debilitating musculoskeletal injury to the knee, seen most often in athletes. Non-contact tears and ruptures are the most common causes of ACL injury....
, rather than playing injured as Bill would have; to regain his honor Bill rejoins the team to score one last touchdown and re-tie the record (he had redshirt
Redshirt (college sports)
Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics that refers to a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen his or her period of eligibility...
eligibility due to being drafted to the Army during his senior year). Bill's bright future was derailed when he attended a Molly Hatchet
Molly Hatchet
Molly Hatchet is an American southern rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1975. They are widely known for their hit song "Flirtin' with Disaster" from the album of the same title. The band, founded by Dave Hlubek and Steve Holland, took its name from a prostitute who allegedly mutilated...
concert and found his future wife Lenore passed out in his lap; she would go on to cheat on and humiliate Bill before finally leaving him a broken shell of his former self. Although there appears to be several factors, it can generally be assumed that her leaving him was the major cause of his downward spiral. In the episode "Order of the Straight Arrow," Bill says "I'm so depressed, I can't even blink."
Bill is often a foil for his friends, who verbally and emotionally put him down on a regular basis, either because they don't realize how hurtful their remarks are or because Bill is too dimwitted to mind very much. He is the first person to be mentioned when any character refers to losers or bemoans a misfortune for fear their lives will be ruined, like his. For example, Hank, while telling Peggy that a lawn makes a man and gives him a purpose, says "Without my lawn, I am Bill," which disgusts Peggy as the thought of being with Bill nauseates her to no end. Bill, like Dale Gribble
Dale Gribble
Dale Alvin Gribble is a fictional character in the animated series King of the Hill. and is voiced by Johnny Hardwick . He is an exterminator, bounty hunter, smoker, gun fanatic, and paranoid believer of almost all conspiracy theories and urban legends...
and Boomhauer, has a strong admiration for Hank and often seeks his advice before doing anything, and for his help when in trouble. He occasionally gets dragged into Dale's crazy schemes, and often is the one who accidentally ruins them. Of all his acquaintances, Boomhauer
Boomhauer
Jeff Dexter Boomhauer III, almost always referred to as simply Boomhauer, is a fictional character in the animated series King of the Hill. The character is voiced by series creator Mike Judge, and is known for his nearly incomprehensible speech....
seems to be the one who gives him the most respect, possibly due to the fact that Bill once helped a brokenhearted Boomhauer get over a girl who dumped him. Bill has an obsessive crush on Peggy, and frequently makes bumbling, inappropriate remarks about her. Although his friends are often disgusted or frustrated at his stupidity and the number of times he has wrecked their plans, they were devastated when it appeared that he had sacrificed himself to save them when they were stuck on a military target zone, with Hank saying that he was a good friend - sweet, loyal, and brave. During their high school years as they have one last blowout in Bill's honor as he's being shipped off a drunken Hank stirs up a fight with a thug at a bar, but Bill intervenes and saves Hank.
When examining Bill's Army medical history, Dale discovered that Bill was unknowingly made part in an experiment called "Operation: Infinite Walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
", to create a hybrid soldier capable of operating in freezing cold waters. It is assumed that the experimental drugs are the cause of his weight gain, excessive body hair, baldness, and terrible body odor and breath until it's revealed that he was in the experimental group given a placebo
Placebo
A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
. Bill is also shown to have a severe but easily treatable foot fungus, which actually comes in handy once to help Hank get revenge on a fraudulent mold
Mold
Molds are fungi that grow in the form of multicellular filaments called hyphae. Molds are not considered to be microbes but microscopic fungi that grow as single cells called yeasts...
inspector. It was once indicated that Bill has diabetes, but then later contradicted by the inept diagnosing doctor, who says that he only said Bill was likely to get diabetes. Originally the doctor made it seem like Bill already had the condition and ultimately would need to use a wheelchair. (Later, Bill beats him up for this, with Hank standing guard.) Ironically, this "diagnosis" leads Bill to a depressed slump, where he meets Thunder, a wheelchair-using muscle man who plays a wheelchair-friendly version of Rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
. This then leads Bill to get into better shape while playing the sport. He also has a foot fetish—finding Peggy's unnaturally over-sized feet very appealing.
Bill's personal hygiene and other habits are shown to be very poor. As previously mentioned he has severe foot fungus, terrible breath and body odor (when opening the hatch of a tank Bill had stolen, Hank believed there was a dead animal inside due to the smell). Various comments indicate that he doesn't shower or brush his teeth on a regular basis. Bobby states that he has dandruff in spite of being bald. He is regularly shown eating food he finds in or under his couch, and has even been shown to eat food without dishes (as in one episode where he was cooking himself spaghetti, where he broke his only plate and was forced to eat the spaghetti off of his counter and drink the jar of sauce he was going to serve with it). He dumps garbage directly out his kitchen window despite having a garbage can. He has been shown to fall asleep while eating snacks, which attracts animals into his bedroom, though he seems incredulous or apathetic to this. His bathroom is described as disgusting, when asked if they would rather endure a dangerous and painful stunt (ex. stick a wasp up your nose) or shower in Bill's bathroom, his friends always choose the former. When assigned tasks to get his house ready for a family reunion after Nancy and Peggy are assigned the bathroom, both are horrified and desperately try to change assignments.
Romantic relationships
Bill Dauterive's ex-wife was named Lenore, who was seen and voiced in the episode "Hank and the Great Glass ElevatorHank and the Great Glass Elevator
"Hank and the Great Glass Elevator" is the 95th episode of the Fox animated television series King of the Hill, and was the 11th episode broadcast in the 5th season.-Plot:...
", attempting to worm her way back into Bill's life when he became high profile while dating former Texas governor Ann Richards
Ann Richards
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the state treasurer of Texas, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as the 45th Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995 and was...
. During the early seasons, he often pined for Lenore to return after she ran out on him, but he was somewhat successful in getting over her in the episode "Pretty Pretty Dresses" after Hank resorts to pretending to be Lenore. Bill then finally symbolically confronts Lenore for leaving him, and after being told "I don't love you anymore" he becomes enraged and yells "You don't deserve William Fontaine De la Tour Dauterive!". During "Hank and the Great Glass Elevator
Hank and the Great Glass Elevator
"Hank and the Great Glass Elevator" is the 95th episode of the Fox animated television series King of the Hill, and was the 11th episode broadcast in the 5th season.-Plot:...
", Lenore tries ordering Bill around in front of Ann Richards but he finally tells her off by mooning her. Other relationships include Luanne's mother Leanne Platter ("Leanne's Saga"), which ended when she reverted to her drunken violent ways and stole his truck, and Kahn's mother Laoma Souphanousinphone ("Maid in Arlen"), which was broken up by interference from Kahn, who convinced Bill that his mother was in love with astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
Harrison Schmitt
Harrison Schmitt
Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt is an American geologist, a retired NASA astronaut, university professor, and a former U.S. senator from New Mexico....
, but they then found out Kahn had been lying because seeing the two of them together disgusted him, however his mother is not seen again later in the series. He also had a brief, mostly sexual, relationship with two of his cousins' widows ("A Beer Can Named Desire"). In the episode "The Untitled Blake McCormick Project," Bill dates a woman named Charlene, and she even moves in with him, however Charlene's past with John Redcorn
John Redcorn
John Redcorn III , is a character in the animated series King of the Hill. He is addressed or referred to as "John Redcorn" or "Mr...
complicates matters. In a later season, he dated Reverend Karen Stroup for a time and even moved her in with him, but eventually broke it off when he felt they were moving too fast. Due to his ability to keep going after virtually any rejection, Bill is the one able to snap Boomhauer out of his depression when rejected by a woman he truly had feelings for.
Work and personality
Bill holds the fictional military occupational specialtyMilitary Occupational Specialty
A United States military occupation code, or a Military Occupational Specialty code , is a nine character code used in the United States Army and United States Marines to identify a specific job. In the U.S. Air Force, a system of Air Force Specialty Codes is used...
, barber in the United States Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
. Though his rank has been revealed through dialogue as being sergeant, his uniform does not bear sergeant rank or any other real US military insignia. He has never deployed in his Army career. He briefly served as a recruiter when his position was eliminated for being wasteful, but it was secretly restored when Hank donated a new chair, with a cover job as an electrician. It is revealed in one episode that as an athletic young man entering the army, he wanted to serve in the armored cavalry in a tank crew. He also was briefly a professional hair stylist with Luanne at the trendy salon Hottyz until it was discovered he wasn't homosexual. When he is engaged by other pursuits, such as when he toured with a choir group called the Harmonoholics or when he decided to run his own halfway house
Halfway house
The purpose of a halfway house, also called a recovery house or sober house, is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support; this is generally believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a...
, Bill uses up all his personal and sick days from the army almost to the point of going AWOL; otherwise he doesn't use them at all. He is described as being nice but often depressed and lonely; his overwhelming need to make people like him makes him easily taken advantage of, particularly by Dale.
In the episode "Bill of Sales" it is also suggested that Bill has emotionally masochistic tendencies—explaining his lust for Peggy. No one finds Bill more repellent than her—and everyone finds Bill very repellent. After learning this, Peggy's attempt to, in her words, "'motivate' him, business term, with a little 'praise', my term, he goes plumb loco, Spanish term." Hank's response, "You must have confused him; being dumped on is all Bill knows" leads Peggy to conclude that "Bill has had a hard life and he likes it that way" and subsequently refers to him as a "nut job". She manages to persuade him to go back to work for her by verbally abusing him. However, she soon fires him out of feelings of guilt for taking advantage of his low self-esteem. It's also during this episode that Bill shows exceptional skills as a salesman, helping Peggy achieve her sales quotas quickly. However it could be seen as Bill didn't want to betray Hank (afraid that Peggy was coming onto him), and the reason for going back to help Peggy was fear she didn't want to even talk to him anymore.
Despite Bill's complete infatuation with Peggy, she seems to loathe him just as much. She brings him a great deal of heartache, though it's not always intentional. For example, during a game of baseball, she once accidentally threw a bean-ball at his head, knocking him to the ground. She then mistakenly threw another at his crotch, putting him in excruciating pain and embarrassment. Another time, angry at his endless pursuit of her, she hit him once at a game and wound up knocking him off the bleachers- his arm later in a sling. She stole his prized American flag and accidentally destroyed it, driving him to absolute tears. Despite all of this, she says she considers him "a friend."
According to Drawn to Television by M. Keith Booker, Bill "is a lonely figure who adds a touch of pathos to the humor of King of the Hill, which is often bittersweet." Jim Bawden of the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
describes Bill as a "sad sack
Sad Sack
The Sad Sack is an American fictional comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, Sad Sack depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and humiliations of military life. The title was a...
". Voicing Bill and a couple other characters on the show is Stephen Root's favorite job.