Blow me up!
view all photos
  • Bill Porter is 79 years old
  • Born: 9 September 1932
  • Birthplace: California
  • Best known as:

    The plucky salesman with cerebral palsy who inspired the film Door to Door

4 good links

  1. TNT: Door to Door

    The cable channel's page for its popular film

  2. The Life of a Salesman

    People magazine has a nice feature from 2002

  3. Ability Magazine

    Great interviews with Porter and Macy about the film

  4. The Unstoppable Bill Porter

    Brief bit with Porter and author Shelly Brady

Bill Porter Biography

Bill Porter was born with cerebral palsy but nonetheless became a door-to-door salesman in Portland, Oregon, struggling up to 10 miles a day on foot while selling household products for the Watkins Company. Friendly and persistent, in time Bill Porter became the top grossing Watkins salesman in the United States. A 1995 column about Porter in The Oregonian was widely reprinted and made Porter a popular symbol of optimistic determination. He was featured in Reader's Digest and on a segment of the ABC news magazine 20/20, and his story was told in the 2002 TNT cable movie Door To Door, with actor William H. Macy as Porter and Kyra Sedgwick as Porter's friend and assistant, Shelly Brady.

Extra credit:

Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter, an inspirational book by Shelly Brady, was published in 2002 by New World Library... Bill Porter had to stop walking his route after breaking his hip in 1998.

Who is this?