death_date death_place birth_place image_size birth_date residence image article_title name occupation
3 december 2013 gresham , oregon san francisco , california 125px september 9 , 1932 oregon bill porter.jpg bill porter -lrb- salesman -rrb-
 bill porter door-to-door salesman
bill porter -lrb- salesman -rrb-

bill porter -lrb- september 9 , 1932 -- december 3 , 2013 -rrb- was an american salesman for watkins incorporated of winona , minnesota .
born with cerebral palsy , porter came to the public 's attention in 1995 , when an oregon newspaper wrote a series of feature stories about him .
born in san francisco , california , porter moved to portland , oregon , with his mother at a young age .
he was unable to gain employment due to his cerebral palsy , but refused to go on disability .
porter eventually convinced watkins incorporated to give him a door-to-door salesman job , selling its products on a seven-mile route in the portland area .
he eventually became the top seller for the company .
in 1995 `` the oregonian '' ran a feature story about porter in its newspaper .
the story of his optimistic determination made him the subject of media attention across the united states .
he was featured in `` reader 's digest '' and on abc 's `` 20/20 '' , and was the subject of a 2002 made-for-tv movie on tnt called `` door to door '' , featuring william h. macy , kyra sedgwick and helen mirren .
in 2009 the japanese tbs network aired a tv-movie loosely based on bill porter , also called `` door to door '' .
it starred ninomiya kazunari and rosa kato as fictional versions of porter and brady .
porter died of an infection in gresham , oregon , on december 3 , 2013 , at the age of 81 .
