Bill Dauterive

Bill is Hank Hill's next-door neighbor and army buddy, a barber on base who's still reeling from his divorce and losing the will to keep himself together. He drinks beer in the driveway with the guys, mourns his marriage aloud at every opportunity, and clings to Hank's friendship like a life raft. Sweet, sad, and a little pathetic, he means well.

Stephen Root finds an aching, childlike vulnerability under Bill's doughy exterior, turning what could be a one-note sad-sack into something genuinely moving. The show never lets his loneliness become a punchline without also making it hurt, and Root's voice work — wounded, hopeful, self-deprecating — makes Bill the emotional soft spot of the whole cul-de-sac.