Bill

"...Portraying Bill as a once heroic army veteran, who though older and wiser, can still excel at physical combat."

- Ariel Diaz, Valve.

William "Bill" Overbeck is one of the four playable Survivors in Left 4 Dead, a Vietnam veteran who served in the US Army 1st Special Forces Group. His combat skills have helped to keep him alive. He is also the oldest of the group. In official media, he is usually seen wielding the assault rifle, probably to complement his back story. He often has a lit cigarette in his mouth.

Bill, along with the other Left 4 Dead Survivors, will appear in Left 4 Dead 2 in the campaign The Passing as they meet with the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors.

Official description
It took two eventful tours in Vietnam, a handful of medals, a knee full of shrapnel, and an honorable discharge before the unthinkable happened: Bill ran out of wars. But now an army of infected has declared war on humanity. After decades of aimless drifting and dead-end jobs, Bill's finally gotten back the only thing he ever wanted: an enemy to fight.

Relationships with other Survivors
Out of the other three Survivors, Bill stands out most prominently as the leader of the group.


 * Francis: Bill appears to have some sort of rivalry with Francis, though the reason for this is unknown. It's possible that Bill and Francis knew each other prior to the outbreak giving them a friendly rivalry. Another cause could be Francis' supposed hatred of the military (since Bill was once a soldier), or simply Francis' gruff personality rubs Bill the wrong way. Alternatively, what is said could simply be friendly teasing between the two.
 * Louis: As far as the Survivors' relationships go, Louis and Bill do not have much evidence hinting towards each other's dispositions. Bill will, however, seem genuinely upset to see Louis die. ("Louis didn't make it... Agh Christ!") Oddly, this is in contrast to how unsympathetic Bill can be when Louis is incapacitated outside of the safe room. ("How well do you really know Louis?") However, he'll usually follow this by saying he was joking.
 * Zoey: The relationship between Bill and Zoey appears to be fairly strong. Bill is openly sorrowful when Zoey is killed. ("Aghh.. not [tearing up] Zoey.") When Zoey is incapacitated on the other side of the safe room ("I can't leave Zoey out there!"), Bill verbally refuses to leave her behind. ("Zoey can't stay out there! We have to help her."). Perhaps Bill looks at her as a sort of daughter or grand-daughter, given her youth.

Quotes and Captions
"See: Bill/Quotes and Captions"

Trivia

 * On the poster for Dead Air, his beret has a blue, star bordered U.S. Army General Service Beret flash on it, not the Yellow U.S. army 1st Special Forces Group beret flash as it appears in the game, and on the rest of the posters. It is also the only poster in which he isn't smoking his trademark cigarette.
 * Alongside Ellis, Bill is the only one of the Left 4 Dead cast to wear some kind of a hat(a military beret in Bill's case; mechanic's cap in Ellis'). This is ironical, looking at how they are each other's opposites (Bill is the oldest Survivor and has a serious and pessimistic attitude. Ellis is, debatably, the youngest one - Zoey's age is not known - and appears to have fun even in the apocalypse and hardly even understands what's going on).
 * Jim French, who voices Bill in Left 4 Dead, also voiced Father Grigori from Half-Life 2 and The Fisherman from Half-Life 2 Lost Coast.
 * Bill, alongside Louis was a "narrator" in the cut intros of the campaigns.
 * Bill is always seen smoking his trademark cigarette. Even when he is dead, it manages to stay in his mouth. However, when he dies, it is no longer lit, the only exception is during the opening scene where he doesn't light the cigarette until the end.
 * Bill served two tours in the Vietnam War, i.e. two years of enlistment. U.S. involvement in the war ended in 1973, so the latest Bill could have been there would have been 1971. Hence, if the game occurs in 2009, Bill is at least 56 years old.
 * Bill does believe that the Survivors can become infected any second. In the earlier versions, seen in cut lines, he was close to being paranoid about the fact they may be infected, while the virus is mutating in their bodies.
 * Bill is currently the only Survivor with a confirmed last name. "Overbeck" can be found on his military jacket.
 * If the player looks at Bill's back, there are scratches ripped in his jacket, exposing his shirt underneath. These are also visible in the trailer. It has been suggested that those scratch marks were made by a Witch. It is implied that Bill has experience in dealing with a Witch prior to meeting up with the other three Survivors. This theory is further reinforced when Bill tells Zoey, "Lights, off!" when the flash of lightning reveals the Witch's outline in the game's opening cinematic.
 * It is possible that Bill has Arthritis, considering his hatred of stairs, and his age. However, it is more likely that the knee injury mentioned in his official description hurts him when he walks or runs, so stairs would be even more painful. Either way, it has no impact on Bill's movements in-game.
 * When using a third person mod or cheat (only for computer), one can see that Bill has a severe limp when he is at critical health. The other Survivors also stagger, but this is further proof that he injured his right leg in his line of work at some point.
 * Bill sometimes uses the phrase "FUBAR" which is a US Army acronym for "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair".
 * In Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2 pre-orders received Bill's Hat as a unique, in-game item. It appears as a brown or dark blue beret (its subtitle is "Level 10 Veteran's Beret). The back-story behind this is that Bill's hat fell off a table and into another dimension, landing in the Team Fortress 2 universe.
 * Bill is the only character to not gain any new lines in the Crash Course Downloadable Content, as Valve was unable to contact voice actor Jim French in time for him to record new lines.
 * In the very first trailer of Left 4 Dead, Bill is killed by the early version of the Smoker, who popped up and clawed him to death. First the Smoker can be seen behind him, than there are two struggling figures in the dark, one performing Smoker's clawing animation. Next second, blood sprays on a car.
 * In the game files, Bill is called "namvet".
 * It is curious why Bill is wearing his military uniform, it is possible he wanted to help the police and/or military and he wanted to give the proof he was in the army. It also may simply be an unconscious choice, or rather a very deliberated one, as he probably wants to relive his old times in the military. He fights as he knows how to fight, and this includes his choice of dress.