Bruce Willis hit it big as scrappy action hero John McClane in the 1988 terrorists-in-the-skyscraper film Die Hard. He has since built an unusual film career made up of 2/3 fast-action tough guys and 1/3 quirky character roles. Willis grew up in New Jersey and began acting in college. He partnered with Cybill Shepherd in the offbeat TV detective romance Moonlighting (1985-89), which made him a TV star. During the show's run he made the leap to the big screen, starring in Blind Date with Kim Basinger before his turn as disillusioned cop John McClane in Die Hard. The film was a smashing success and spawned three sequels, Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995, with Samuel L. Jackson), and Live Free or Die Hard (2007). Willis followed up his Die Hard success with action films good and bad (including the notorious 1991 flop Hudson Hawk), and his 12-year marriage to Demi Moore was constant fodder for the gossip sheets. He has made a habit of taking smaller character parts as well as leading roles, including a much-appreciated appearance in Pulp Fiction (1994, with Ving Rhames) and a turn as a small-town businessman in Nobody's Fool (also 1994, opposite Paul Newman). Willis has a reputation for keeping busy, and his other films include: 12 Monkeys (1995, co-starring Brad Pitt); two M. Night Shyamalan movies, The Sixth Sense (1999) and Unbreakable (2000); Bandits (2001, with Billy Bob Thornton); Hart's War (2002, with Colin Farrell; Hostage (2005); Frank Miller's Sin City (2005, with Jessica Alba); 16 Blocks (2006, with Mos Def); and Over the Hedge (2006, also with the voice of Steve Carell).
Willis married model Emma Heming on 21 March 2009. It was Willis's second marriage, Heming's first. He was 54 and she 30 at the time of the wedding... Willis and Demi Moore were married from 1987-2000. They have three daughters together: Rumer Glenn (b. 1988), Scout LaRue (b. 1991), and Tallulah Belle (b. 1994). Scout is reportedly named for the youthful heroine of the book To Kill a Mockingbird... Willis recorded two blues albums in the 1980s, when he went by the musical nickname "Bruno": The Return of Bruno (1987) and If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger (1989). He sings at times with his backup band, The Accelerators... Willis was born in Germany, where his father was an American soldier. His mother, Marlene, was a German national.
Representative Albums: "The Return of Bruno," "Millennium Series," "Master Series"
Representative Songs: "Respect Yourself," "Under the Boardwalk," "Jackpot (Bruno's Bop)"
Biography
Best known as the action hero behind cinema's Die Hard series, Bruce Willis (b. March 19, 1955; Penns Grove, NJ) became a twice-over recording artist during the late '80s. His debut album, The Return of Bruno, became a surprise seller after the single "Respect Yourself" hit the Top Five in early 1987. Willis had two other modest hits, and recorded another LP two years later, but has remained outside music for the most part -- performing only occasionally to inaugurate several Planet Hollywood restaurants. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
Born: Mar 19, 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany
Occupation: Actor, Writer
Active: '80s-2000s
Major Genres: Comedy, Action
Career Highlights: The Sixth Sense, Die Hard 2, Moonlighting
First Major Screen Credit: Moonlighting (1985)
Biography
Bruce Willis is one of Hollywood's most beloved and iconic leading men. The actor sports a cocky, ever-present smirk, projects a constant stream of wise-assed quips, and has virtually mastered the slow burn, but unlike some of his contemporaries with that approach, Willis never hesitates to let the audience know that it's partially done in goofy jest, or to reveal, at closer glance, a level of soft-hearted affability buried beneath it all. This juxtaposition initially served Willis well in big- and small-screen comedies, but in the late '80s, he switched gears by headlining John McTiernan's Die Hard (1988). In so doing, Willis carried his persona into barrel-chested action roles with equal force, and instantly established himself as one of the most bankable and versatile stars in contemporary filmdom.
Born Walter Willison -- an Army brat to parents stationed in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany -- on March 19, 1955, Willis grew up in New Jersey from the age of two. As a youngster, he developed a stutter that posed the threat of social alienation, but he discovered an odd quirk: while performing in front of large numbers of people, the handicap inexplicably vanished. This led Willis into a certified niche as a comedian and budding actor. After high-school graduation, 18-year-old Willis decided to land a blue-collar job in the vein of his father, and accepted a position at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deep Water, NJ, but withdrew, shaken, after a co-worker was killed on the job. He performed regularly on the harmonica in a blues ensemble called the Loose Goose and worked temporarily as a security guard before enrolling in the drama program at Montclair State University in New Jersey. A collegiate role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof brought Willis back in touch with his love of acting, and he instantly decided to devote his life to the profession. During his junior year, he impetuously packed up, dropped out of college, and headed off to New York, trying unsuccessfully to land parts in innumerable Broadway productions. Not long after (in 1977), the 22-year-old aspiring actor succeeded and began a temporary stage career.
Two years later, in 1980, Willis transitioned to film with a bit role in Brian G. Hutton's The First Deadly Sin, starring Frank Sinatra, and two years after that, a bit role in Sidney Lumet's The Verdict, starring Paul Newman. Willis didn't land broad exposure and enter the public eye, however, until 1984, when he auditioned for TV series creator Glenn Gordon Caron -- among 3,000 hopefuls -- to play the lead in Moonlighting, an ABC detective comedy series. Sensing Willis' innate appeal, Caron instantly cast him opposite the luminous Cybill Shepherd. It was a brilliant move.
The series, which debuted on March 3, 1985, sported a charming premise with a complex backstory. Shepherd played Maddie Hayes, a top fashion model. Mercilessly cheated out of her fortune by a conniving manager, Maddie discovered at the last minute that her assets included a hole-in-the-wall Los Angeles private-investigation firm, The Blue Moon Detective Agency. Willis portrayed David Addison, its impossibly hip yet slovenly principal employee. Though Maddie initially intended to fire David and liquidate the business, he connived his way into hanging onto the position, and the two paired up on a series of detective cases, with David coarsely and aggressively attempting to wheedle his way into Maddie's heart over the course of the series. (His bag-of-tricks included wolf whistles and '60s bubblegum tunes.) Moonlighting swept audiences off of their feet, but the series ran into a host of ugly problems, thanks in no small part to ongoing creative differences between Caron, Shepherd, and Willis. This delayed production constantly and resulted in frequent repeat episodes, but the series weighed heavily on stylistic invention and innovation and held a loyal following. It ultimately lasted four years and wrapped on May 14, 1989. During the first year or two of the series, Willis and Shepherd enjoyed a brief offscreen romantic involvement as well, but Willis soon met and fell in love with actress Demi Moore, who became his wife in 1987.
In the interim, Willis segued into features at the behest of Blake Edwards, who cast him as geeky Walter Davis -- a businessman who takes Kim Basinger out on the most destructive date in movie history -- in the madcap 1987 comedy Blind Date. The picture received mixed reviews but did respectable box office for TriStar. That same year, Motown Records -- perhaps made aware of Willis' experiences as a musician -- invited the star to record an LP of blue-eyed soul tracks. The Return of Bruno emerged and became a moderate hit among baby boomers, although as the years passed it became more a punchline than anything.
In 1988, Willis broke box-office records when he starred in John McTiernan's Die Hard for producer Joel Silver. This bloody, bone-crunching action saga cast Willis as John McClane, a working-class cop who confronts an entire skyscraper full of terrorists when the brutes take captive McClane's estranged wife and a host of other innocents one fateful Christmas Eve. McTiernan and Silver employed an unusual strategy: they used Willis' wiseacre television persona to constantly undercut the film's somber underpinnings, without ever once damaging the suspenseful core of the material. This, coupled with a smart script and wall-to-wall sequences of spectacular action, propelled Die Hard to number one at the box office during the summer of 1988. The film ultimately broke many box-office records and led to several lucrative sequels.
Thereafter, Willis occasionally attempted to expand his range beyond traditional action and comedy, but the results proved somewhat lackluster, from disappointing (the 1989 Norman Jewison drama In Country, with Willis as a Vietnam vet) to downright ludicrous (Brian De Palma's 1990 film The Bonfire of the Vanities, with Willis as a British reporter). He fared better with more traditional genre work, such as Amy Heckerling's 1989 hit comedy Look Who's Talking, in which he voiced Mikey, a baby whose thoughts are comically projected aloud for the audience to hear. (Like Heckerling, Willis made the mistake of signing on for its incorrigible sequel, 1990's Look Who's Talking, Too, though, mercifully, not for the third installment.) He also signed on for the second installment of the Die Hard series in 1990.
In 1991, Willis scraped rock bottom -- and then some -- when he launched a "vanity project," the multi-million-dollar heist comedy Hudson Hawk. This off-the-wall, action-laden farce, about a mad-as-a-March-hare cat burglar, found Willis posing a triple threat (lead actor, first time co-screenwriter, and co-author of the title song). The mega-budgeted Hawk became one of the most notorious stinkers of all time, was despised by critics, and cost its studio millions of dollars.
Willis' turn as a "master of disguises" in Rob Reiner's equally disastrous 1994 children's comedy North didn't help much, either, but (like John Travolta, who had slipped further and had fallen harder by 1994) Willis bounced back with a key role in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 cause célèbre, Pulp Fiction. Willis, Travolta, and many of the others in the cast reputedly agreed to work on the project for scale -- quite a jaw-dropper given Willis' ability to command six figures for a typical Hollywood role. As the pugilist Butch, who risks his life to retrieve his father's prized watch but takes violent revenge on spate of demented, S&M-happy rednecks, Willis won favor with audiences around the world and landed back on top of his game. He doubled this up with an affable supporting role as Carl Roebuck in Robert Benton's beautifully realized character study Nobody's Fool, starring Paul Newman, that same year.
A torrent of equally successful (albeit more traditional) genre roles followed for Willis throughout the '90s. He swung into action as John McClane for a third time, in 1995's blockbuster Die Hard: With a Vengeance, provided the voice of Muddy Grimes for Mike Judge's Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996), and teamed up with mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer for the ripping sci-fi action yarn Armageddon (1998), while contributing witty guest-starring appearances to such prime-time comedy series as Ally McBeal, Mad About You, and Friends.
Willis landed one of his biggest hits, however, when he signed on to work with writer/director M. Night Shyamalan in the supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense. In that film, Willis played Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist assigned to treat a young boy (Haley Joel Osment) plagued by visions of ghosts. The picture packs a wallop in its final minutes, with a now-infamous surprise that even purportedly caught Hollywood insiders off guard when it hit U.S. cinemas in the summer of 1999. Around the same time, tabloids began to swarm with gossip of a breakup between Willis and Demi Moore, who indeed filed for divorce and finalized it in the fall of 2000.
Willis and M. Night Shyamalan teamed up again in 2000 for Unbreakable, an oddball fantasy about a man (Willis) who suddenly discovers that he has been imbued with superhero powers and meets his polar opposite, a psychotic, fragile-bodied black man (Samuel L. Jackson). This byzantine fantasy opus divided critics but drew hefty grosses when it premiered on November 22, 2000. That same year, Willis delighted audiences with a neat comic turn as hitman Jimmy the Tulip in The Whole Nine Yards. (He followed it up four years later with a cloying -- and cleverly named -- sequel, The Whole Ten Yards.)
A handful of somewhat lackluster, low-profile films followed from 2001-2002, including Bandits, Hart's War, and True West, a filmed version of the Sam Shepard play, which Willis also executive produced. In 2005, he played Hartigan in Robert Rodriguez's graphic-novel adaptation Sin City, and retread his Die Hard role with the poorly received thriller Hostage, as a former hostage negotiator-turned-cop who revisits old haunts when he must deliver a small-town family from a cadre of psychotic criminals holding them hostage.
In 2006, Willis threw himself into his work with full abandon; he appeared in no less than seven major productions. These included Richard Donner's 16 Blocks (as an alcoholic cop required to transport a criminal on a hazardous journey to the courthouse), Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation (in a funny cameo, as the adversary of fast-food rep Greg Kinnear), Paul McGuigan's thriller Lucky Number Slevin (as diabolical hitman Mr. Goodkat), and Nick Cassavetes' based-on-actual-events crime drama Alpha Dog, as the father of adolescent gangster-kidnapper-drug pusher Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch). The next year, the actor played a murder suspect in James Foley's psychological thriller Perfect Stranger, opposite Halle Berry, and reprised his role as everyman superhero John McClane in a fourth installment of the Die Hard series, Live Free or Die Hard, directed by Len Wiseman.
Bruce Willis is, along with fellow actors Tom Selleck, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dennis Hopper, and John Milius, one of the few outspoken conservatives in Hollywood, and reputedly a staunch supporter of the Republican party. He has three children by Moore: Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah Belle. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Happy 50th birthday to actor Bruce Willis! The versatile star of dozens of films, including The Sixth Sense, The Whole Nine Yards, and the Die Hard movies, is working on Die Hard 4.0, due to be released next year. He also has recorded two blues albums.
"My wife heard me say I love you a thousand times, but she never once heard me say sorry"
"Our marriage is like anybody's marriage, It goes through ups and downs. It's a little garden that you have to tend all the time. When we're home, it's not like we walk around all dolled up going, We are celebrities! We are famous! I change diapers. I clean up dog doo."
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955), better known as Bruce Willis, is a American actor and film producer. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since. One of his more popular roles was that of John McClane in the Die Hard series, which were critical and financial successes. Willis has released several albums and has appeared in several television shows. He has also appeared in over sixty films, including Pulp Fiction, Sin City, 12 Monkeys, Armageddon, and The Sixth Sense.
Motion pictures featuring Willis have grossedUS$2.55 to US$3.05 billion at North American box offices, making him the seventh highest-grossing actor in a leading role, and ninth highest including supporting roles.[1][2] Willis was married to actress Demi Moore and they had three daughters, before their divorce in 2000 after thirteen years of marriage. He is a two–time Emmy Award–winning, Golden Globe Award–winning, and four-time Saturn Award–nominated actor.
Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, the son of a Kassel-born German Marlene, who worked in a bank, and David Willis, an American soldier.[3][4] Willis was the eldest of four children: he has a sister Florence and a brother David. His brother Robert died of pancreatic cancer in 2001, aged 42.[5] After being discharged from the military in 1957, Willis' father took his family back to Penns Grove, New Jersey, where he worked as a welder and factory worker.[6] His parents separated in 1972 while Willis was in his teens.[4] Willis attended Penns Grove High School in his hometown, where he encountered issues with a stutter. He used to be hatefully nicknamed Buck-Buck by his schoolmates.[7][6][8] Finding it easy to express himself on stage and losing his stutter in the process, Willis began performing on stage and his high school activities were marked by such things as the drama club and student council president.[6]
After high school, Willis took a job as a security guard and he also transported work crews at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey.[9] He quit after a colleague was killed on the job, and became a regular at several bars.[6] Willis learned to play the harmonica.
After a stint as a private investigator (a role he would play in the television series Moonlighting as well as in the 1991 film, The Last Boy Scout), Willis returned to acting. He enrolled in the drama program at Montclair State University, where he was cast in the class production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Willis left school in his junior year and moved to New York City.[4]
Willis returned to the bar scene, only this time for a part-time job at the West Bank Cafe in New York City's Manhattan Plaza.[10][9] After multiple auditions, Willis made his theater debut in the off-Broadway production of Heaven and Earth. He gained more experience and exposure in Fool for Love, and in a Levi's commercial.
Willis left New York City and headed to California to audition for several television shows.[4] He auditioned for the role of David Addison Jr. of the television series Moonlighting (1985–89), while competing against 3,000 other actors for the position.[11] The starring role, opposite Cybill Shepherd, helped to establish him as a comedic actor, with the show lasting five seasons. During the height of the show's success, beverage maker Seagram hired Willis as the pitchman for their Golden Wine Cooler products.[12] The advertising campaign paid the rising star between $5–7 million over two years. In spite of that, Willis chose not to renew his contract with the company when he decided to stop drinking alcohol in 1988.[13] One of his first major film roles was in the 1987 Blake Edwards film Blind Date alongside Kim Basinger and John Laroquette. Edwards would cast him again to play the real-life cowboy actor Tom Mix in Sunset. However, it was his then-unexpected turn in the film Die Hard that catapulted him to fame. He performed most of his own stunts in the film,[14] and the film grossed $138,708,852 worldwide.[15] Following his success with Die Hard, he had a supporting role in the drama In Country as Vietnam veteran Emmett Smith and also provided the voice for a talking baby in Look Who's Talking, as well as its sequel Look Who's Talking Too.
In the late-1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues entitled The Return of Bruno, which included the hit single "Respect Yourself",[16] promoted by a Spinal Tap-like rockumentaryparody featuring scenes of him performing at famous events including Woodstock. Follow-up recordings were not as successful, though Willis has returned to the recording studio several times. In the early 1990s, Willis' career suffered a moderate slump starring in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities, Striking Distance, and a film he co-wrote entitled Hudson Hawk, among others. He starred in a leading role in the highly sexualized thriller Color of Night (1994), which was very poorly received by critics, but has become popular on video. However, in 1994, he had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed Pulp Fiction, which gave a new boost to his career. In 1996, he was the executive producer of the cartoonBruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself.[17] He went on to play the lead roles in Twelve Monkeys and The Fifth Element. However, by the end of the 1990s, his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like The Jackal, Mercury Rising, and Breakfast of Champions, saved only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon which was the highest grossing film of 1998 worldwide.[18] The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game Apocalypse.[19]
In 1999, Willis then went on to the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film, The Sixth Sense. The film was both a commercial and critical success and helped to increase interest in his acting career. He won a 2000 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends (in which he played the father of Ross Geller's much-younger girlfriend).[20] He was also nominated for a 2001 American Comedy Award (in the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series category) for his work on Friends. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in Ocean's Eleven (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album.[21] In Ocean's Twelve (2004), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. In 2007, he appeared in the Planet Terror half of the double feature Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marks Willis' second collaboration with directorRobert Rodriguez, following Sin City.
Willis at the German premiere of Over the Hedge on June 28, 2006.
Willis has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman several times throughout his career. He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest.[22] On many of his appearances on the show, Willis stages elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, having one side of his face made up with simulated buckshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting, or trying to break a record (parody of David Blaine) of staying underwater for only twenty seconds. On April 12, 2007, he appeared again, this time wearing a Sanjaya Malakar wig.[23] His most recent appearance was on June 25, 2007 when he appeared wearing a mini-turbine strapped to his head to accompany a joke about his own fictional documentary entitled An Unappealing Hunch (a wordplay of An Inconvenient Truth).[24] Willis also appeared on Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials.[25] Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.
Willis appeared on the 2008 Blues Traveler album North Hollywood Shootout, giving a spoken word performance over an instrumental blues-rock jam on the track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)". In early 2009, he appeared in an advertising campaign to publicize the insurance company Norwich Union's change of name to Aviva.[26]
Willis will star alongside Tracy Morgan in a comedy with a working title of A Couple of Dicks, directed by Kevin Smith. The film is about two police detectives investigating the theft of a baseball card.[29] Release is set for January 2010.
Personal life
Marriages and family
At the premiere for the film Stakeout, Willis met actress Demi Moore, who was dating actor Emilio Estevez at the time. Willis married Moore on November 21, 1987 and had three daughters: Rumer Willis (b. 16 August 1988), Scout LaRue Willis (b. 20 July 1991) and Tallulah Belle Willis (b. 3 February 1994) before the couple divorced on October 18, 2000. The couple gave no public reason for their breakup. Willis stated that his divorce made him feel that "I felt I had failed as a father and a husband by not being able to make it work" and credited actor Will Smith for helping him cope with the situation.[4][12] After their breakup, rumors persisted that the couple planned to re-marry, until Moore married the actor Ashton Kutcher, fifteen years her junior. Willis has maintained a close relationship with both Moore and Kutcher, even attending their wedding. Willis and Moore currently share custody of their daughters.[4]
Since the divorce he has dated models Maria Bravo Rosado and Emily Sandberg; he was engaged to Brooke Burns until they broke up in 2004 after ten months together.[11] He married Emma Heming in Turks and Caicos on March 21, 2009;[30] guests included his three daughters, Moore, and Kutcher. The ceremony was not legally binding, so the couple wed again in a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills six days later.[31] Willis has expressed interest in having more children.[4]
Organized religions in general, in my opinion, are dying forms", he says. "They were all very important when we didn't know why the sun moved, why weather changed, why hurricanes occurred, or volcanoes happened", he continues. "Modern religion is the end trail of modern mythology. But there are people who interpret the Bible literally. Literally! I choose not to believe that's the way. And that's what makes America cool, you know?[32]
Willis, an avid New Jersey Nets fan, made controversial comments on April 29, 2007 during a live broadcast of a Nets home playoff game on TSN by saying a catch phrase from his Die Hard films, "Yipee-ki-aye-ay motherfucker", at the end of the interview.[37][38] Reacting to the backlash, he later blamed his actions on jet lag, stating: "Sometimes I overestimate my ability to function under duress with less than enough sleep".[12]
On May 5, 2007, someone using the screen name "Walter_B" started posting detailed responses onto Ain't it Cool News, where people were discussing the fact that Live Free or Die Hard received a PG-13 rating, instead of an R rating like the earlier three Die Hard films.[39] The responses included detailed information on Live Free or Die Hard, which was yet to be released; the theme of the Die Hard film series, direct criticisms of other film crews and casts, and many film trivia answers. Many people were skeptical that "Walter_B" was indeed Willis, but on May 9, Willis revealed his identity on a video chat session (using iChat).[40][40]
Political views
In 1988, he and Moore actively campaigned for Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis's Presidential bid. Four years later, he supported President George H.W. Bush for reelection and he was a vocal critic of Bill Clinton. However, in 1996, he declined to endorse Clinton's Republican opponent Bob Dole, because Dole had criticized Moore for her role in the film Striptease.[41] Willis was an invited speaker at the 2000 Republican National Convention,[42] and actively supported George W. Bush that year. He did not make any contributions or public endorsements in the 2008 Presidential campaign. In several June 2007 interviews, he declared that he still maintains some Republican ideologies, but is currently an independent.[4][12]
In 2006, he proposed that the United States should invade Colombia in order to end the drug trafficking.[43] In several interviews Willis has said that he supports large salaries for teachers and police officers, and says that he is disappointed in the United States' foster care and treatment of Native Americans.[41][44] Willis also stated that he is a big supporter of gun rights:
"Everyone has a right to bear arms. If you take guns away from legal gun owners, then the only people who have guns are the bad guys." Even a pacifist, he insists, would get violent if someone were trying to kill him. "You would fight for your life."[45]
Willis has criticized the religious right and its influence on the Republican party. In February 2006, Willis appeared in Manhattan to talk about 16 Blocks with reporters. One reporter attempted to ask Willis about his opinion on current events, but was interrupted by Willis in mid-sentence:
“
I'm sick of answering this fucking question. I'm a Republican only as far as I want a smaller government, I want less government intrusion. I want them to stop shitting on my money and your money and tax dollars that we give 50 percent of... every year. I want them to be fiscally responsible and I want these goddamn lobbyists out of Washington. Do that and I'll say I'm a Republican... I hate the government, OK? I'm apolitical. Write that down. I'm not a Republican.[46]
”
Military interests
Willis meeting members of the U.S. Navy on July 25, 2002.
Throughout his film career, Willis has depicted several military characters in films such as The Siege, Hart's War, Tears of the Sun, and Grindhouse. Growing up in a military family, Willis has been publicly selling Girl scout cookies for the United States armed forces. In 2002, Willis' youngest daughter, Tallulah, suggested that he purchase Girl Scout cookies to send to troops. Willis purchased 12,000 boxes of cookies, and they were distributed to sailors aboard USS John F. Kennedy and other troops stationed throughout the Middle East at the time.[47] In 2003, Willis visited Iraq as part of the USO tour, singing to the troops with his band, The Accelerators.[48] Willis considered joining the military to help fight the second Iraq war, but was deterred by his age.[49] It was believed he offered US$1 million to any civilian who turns in terrorist leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; in the June 2007 issue of Vanity Fair, however, he clarified that the statement was made hypothetically and not meant to be taken literally. Willis has also criticized the media for its coverage of the war, complaining that the press were more likely to focus on the negative aspects of the war:
“
I went to Iraq because what I saw when I was over there was soldiers — young kids for the most part — helping people in Iraq; helping getting the power turned back on, helping get hospitals open, helping get the water turned back on and you don't hear any of that on the news. You hear, 'X number of people were killed today,' which I think does a huge disservice. It's like spitting on these young men and women who are over there fighting to help this country.[50]
”
Willis stated in 2005 that he wanted to "make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy."[51] The film would follow members of Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, who spent considerable time in Mosul and were decorated heavily for it. The film is to be based on the writings of bloggerMichael Yon, a former United States Army Special Forces soldier who was embedded with Deuce Four and sent regular dispatches about their activities. Willis described the plot of the film as "these guys who do what they are asked for very little money to defend and fight for what they consider to be freedom."[52] He has not spoken publicly about his plans for this film since 2005.
Cultural references
In 1996, Roger Director, a writer and producer from Moonlighting wrote a roman à clef on Willis titled A Place to Fall.[53]Cybill Shepherd wrote in her 2000 autobiography, Cybill Disobedience, that Willis was angry at Director, because the character was written as a "neurotic, petulant actor."
In 1998, Willis participated in Apocalypse, a Playstation video game. The game was originally announced to feature Willis as a sidekick, not as the main character. The company reworked the game using Willis' likeness and voice and changed the game to use him as the main character.[19]
If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger, 1989, Motown / Pgd, OCLC21322754.
Classic Bruce Willis: The Universal Masters Collection, 2001, Polygram Int'l, OCLC71124889.
Awards and honors
Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
Willis has won a variety of awards and has received various honors throughout his career in television and film.
For his work on the television show Moonlighting he won an Emmy ("Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series") and a Golden Globe ("Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical") plus received additional nominations for the show.[54]
He was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actor" for his role in the film In Country
In February 2002, Willis was awarded the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.[56]
Also in 2002, Willis was appointed as national spokesman for Children in Foster Care by PresidentGeorge W. Bush.[57] Willis wrote online: "I saw Foster Care as a way for me to serve my country in a system by which shining a little bit of light could benefit a great deal by helping kids who were literally wards of the government."
In April 2006, he was honored by French government for his contributions to the film industry. Willis was named "Officier Dans L'ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres" (Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters) in a ceremony in Paris. The French Prime Minister stated "This is France's way of paying tribute to an actor who epitomizes the strength of American cinema, the power of the emotions that he invites us to share on the world's screens and the sturdy personalities of his legendary characters."[58]
On October 16, 2006, Willis was honored with a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard and it was the 2,321st star awarded in its history. Willis, reacting to his reception of the star, stated "I used to come down here and look at these stars and I could never quite figure out what you were supposed to do to get one...time has passed and now here I am doing this, and I'm still excited. I'm still excited to be an actor."[59]
BruceWillis.com (Way Back Machine) Official website - shutdown since Thanksgiving 2005. Link refers to the cached homepages of the site at Archive.org.
