William "Bill" Horton is a fictional character from the American NBC daytime soap opera, Days of Our Lives.
The character was re-introduced on June 21, 1966, when Edward Mallory began an almost fourteen-year run as Bill, playing him through to April 14, 1980.
The character returned in the late eighties, when Christopher Stone played Bill for a six-month stint from September 11, 1987, to March 17, 1988.
Mallory reprised playing Bill in guest appearances from July 1 to 3, 1991, and then again in a short-term recurring capacity from October 15, 1992, to January 5, 1993.
Bill (Paul Carr), an aspiring surgeon, initially appears at Christmas 1965 on vacation from medical school.
In June 1966, Bill (now Edward Mallory) took his first job at Salem University Hospital, where his father works.
Bill is devastated and leaves Salem to sort out his future and eventually take a medical position in another town.
In late 1967, Bill returned to Salem along with his friend Dr. Mark Brooks (later revealed to be his brother Tommy) and a little boy named Timmy McCall.
When Timmy McCall needed his appendix removed, Bill performed the surgery and then knew he would be able to return to Salem and continue his surgical career.
Laura explains to Tom that Bill raped her while he was drunk and that she didn't tell Mickey in order to prevent any fighting between the two.
Bill refuses to tell anyone why he was at Kitty's place that night, and eventually, he is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to three years in prison.
In 1973, Mickey suffers a massive coronary, but with Bill's skilled hands, he manages to save his brothers life.
Mickey is discovered to be alive, but he has amnesia, and he grants Laura a divorce so he could remain with Maggie Simmons.
Bill's gunshot injury causes nerve damage and impaired feeling and use of his right hand, and he has to quit being a surgeon.
In 1977, Bill begins retraining as an anesthesiologist and becomes friends with the Head of Anesthesiology, Dr. Kate Winograd, and they start falling for each other.
When a young, inexperienced resident surgeon panics in the operating room and walks out, Bill is forced to perform life-saving brain surgery with the assistance of Kate.
Barton's paralysis turns out to be psychological, and when he walks into the courtroom, the case against Bill and Kate is thrown out.