Cotton Hill is a character on the animated television series King of the Hill. He is Hank Hill's father and a World War II veteran who lost his shins in combat, making him a foot shorter than his fellow family members and causing a characteristic "waddle". He is in short a "nasty little man" who talks down to women, berates his son, and is prone to violent outbursts. On rare occasions Cotton shows a second side that he normally keeps hidden, one where he feels he has failed as a father, hates himself for being old and disabled, and would die to protect his grandson. It was Cotton who, through tough love and intense physical therapy, taught Peggy Hill to walk again after a debilitating accident.
According to Cotton's often-exaggerated war stories, he lost his shins escaping from a ship that faced the same fate as the USS Indianapolis (being torpedoed). To survive in the water, he had to give his friend Fatty to the sharks. When he reached land, the Japanese army tricked him into an ambush and shot off his shins with machine guns. He killed every last one with a big piece of Fatty before losing consciousness. He woke up in an Army hospital, where his feet were being sewn to his knees.
At age 75, he fathered a second son, Good Hank (G.H.), with his second wife, Didi, a much younger woman who Hank was in kindergarten with. His best friend was the late Topsy, a fellow veteran who liked to make grotesque faces, bulging his cheeks out a la Dizzy Gillespie. This little trick frightened a maternity ward nurse while Cotton's wife was in labor.
Cotton's voice is provided by Toby Huss.
Quotes: "I killed fitty men!"
Last updated: 05-23-2005 16:33:34
