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A raffish performer whose relaxed style and working-class persona made him an indelible favorite during his star-making turn on the quirky detective series, “Moonlighting” (ABC, 1985-89), actor Bruce Willis used his cocky charm and insatiable will to become one of the biggest movie stars in the world. A surprisingly versatile performer, Willis hit his peak as an action hero during the late 1980s and early 1990s, especially as the star of the behemoth hit “Die Hard” (1988). Proving he was more than a one-note song, Willis put his acting chops on display as Butch, the washed-up pugilist in director Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (1994). His career hit a bumpy road, however, as he approached middle age – around the same time his fabled marriage to fellow A-lister Demi Moore came to an end. But Willis later reinvented himself as a lead of serious dramas, especially with an impressive turn as haunted psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Crowe in director M. Night Shyamalan’s landmark thriller, “The Sixth Sense” (1999). Willis would continue his association with Shyamalan well into the next decade, refining his image as a venerable actor with true talent – and enough of a sense of humor to return to his “Die Hard,” once again starring as a middle-aged John McClain in “Live Free or Die Hard” (2007).
The eldest of four children, Walter Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955, in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, where his father was a welder serving in the U.S. military. The family later moved to Penns Grove, NJ, where Willis spent the remainder of his childhood. Nicknaming himself ‘Bruno’ to gain confidence, Willis quickly became a popular student; even going on to become student body president. Unfortunately, Willis’ political career went up in smoke his senior year when he was suspended for three months – allegedly for smoking pot. After toiling around New Jersey and working menial jobs following graduation – namely at a nearby DuPont chemical factory and as a security guard at a nuclear power plant – Willis decided to give acting a try. While taking classes at Montclair State College, the future star also began to play harmonica in a local blues band called the Loose Goose – a regular ritual which helped the fledgling musician overcome his natural stutter.
Willis broke through both professionally and personally with the school’s production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” With the determination of someone who knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, Willis promptly dropped out of MSC at 19 and moved to New York City, NY to find acting work. In 1977, Willis landed his first stage gig with a role in an off-Broadway production of “Heaven and Earth.” But for the most part, he struggled to find acting work while paying the rent with bartending gigs at Chelsea Central and Kamikaze. Willis continued to perform in other off-Broadway roles and appeared briefly in films like “The First Deadly Sin” (1980) and “The Verdict” (1982), as well as occasionally landing guest spots on episodes of “Hart to Hart” (ABC, 1979-1984) and “Miami Vice” (NBC, 1984-89). During the wild 1980s – an era awash in booze and drugs – his devil-may-care bartender attitude fit in perfectly with the night owls of the Big Apple’s surreal after-hours swirl. And like many bartenders-by-night/thespians-by-day, Willis was also developing serious acting chops.
In 1984, his first big break came when he replaced Ed Harris in Sam Shepard's off-Broadway hit, "Fool for Love.” This led to an audition for "Desperately Seeking Susan" (1985) – the Susan Seidelman-helmed mistaken identity comedy starring Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. Though he failed to land the part, Willis stuck around Hollywood an extra day to read for what became a career-launching role – playing wisecracking private investigator David Addison on ABC’s wildly successful “Moonlighting.” Arriving to the audition in combat fatigues and sporting a punk haircut, he eventually beat out 3,000 other hopefuls because of his unconventional look and cocky attitude. Starring opposite a smug, but demure Cybill Shepherd, Willis possessed the charm of a young Jimmy Cagney. Before long, the hip dialogue-driven romantic comedy became one of the most inventive shows of the decade. Unfortunately, the show’s success also bred its share of personality conflicts. Widely publicized battles involving the two stars and show creator Glenn Gordon Caron resulted in production delays and numerous repeat episodes. But the behind-the-scenes tensions helped fuel the palpable onscreen sexual energy between Willis and Shepherd. The carnal edge to their rocky relationship was finally consummated at the end of the 1986-87 season – an event considered by many fans to be the moment when the series “jumped-the-shark.” Willis did, however, win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama that same season.
After appearing in guest spots on several TV shows, in addition to starring in the series pilot for an updated incarnation of "The Twilight Zone" (CBS, 1985-87), Willis headlined his own music special, "The Return of Bruno" (HBO, 1987), a mockumentary highlighting fictional blues singer Bruno Radolini (Willis) and his band, The Heaters. From there, Willis landed starring roles in two uneven Blake Edwards’s comedies, "Blind Date" (1987) and "Sunset" (1988). The actor’s charming "Moonlighting" smirk notwithstanding, little of Willis’ small screen appeal translated to the big screen and he was pegged as just another fading television personality unable to make the transition into features. But when Hollywood super-agent Arnold Rifkin landed Willis the lead role in the action-film "Die Hard,” Willis was thrust into the big time. News broke that he would earn an unprecedented $5 million payday, raising a hue and cry throughout Hollywood that no actor with such trifling films credits should command such a substantial amount of money.
In hindsight, Willis’ salary was a bargain. The action thriller – about a New York cop (Willis) trapped in a corporate high-rise when a gang of terrorists hold employees hostage – spawned a franchise and launched Willis as an action-hero on par with the likes of Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Willis' wise-guy machismo worked perfectly for the film’s hero, John McClane, leading him to reprise the role in the sequel "Die Hard II: Die Harder" (1990). Meanwhile, he supplied the voice of Mikey in the hit comedy "Look Who's Talking" (1989) and its limp follow-up "Look Who's Talking Too" (1990), then stretched his talents with a surprisingly good performance as the cynical, shell-shocked Vietnam veteran of "In Country" (1989). Willis went on to flex his acting muscles as the low-life murder victim in "Mortal Thoughts" (1991, opposite then-wife Demi Moore) and the hapless plastic surgeon in the horror comedy "Death Becomes Her" (1992) – occasional high points in the midst of some extraordinary disasters. Less successful were the abysmal "Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990) based on Tom Wolfe’s novel, the self-indulgent action flop "Hudson Hawk" (1991) – for which he co-wrote the story and theme song – as well as the box-office disappointments "Billy Bathgate" (1991) and "The Last Boy Scout" (1991), all of which threatened to permanently damage his career.
Once again, critics were wont to write Willis off, just as they did during his post-“Moonlighting” missteps. He defied them all, however, rebounding nicely with several off-beat roles that ran counter to his action hero persona. After spoofing himself in Robert Altman's Hollywood satire "The Player" (1992), he emerged as a prizefighter who refuses to take a dive in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (1994). Though overshadowed by costar John Travolta’s sudden return to the limelight after his career had been pronounced dead, Willis nonetheless resuscitated himself in the film’s most memorable performance. He next starred in director Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi masterpiece "12 Monkeys" (1995), playing a time-traveling scientist whose self-sacrifice alters the course of the future for the betterment of mankind. Later that year, however, Willis suited up for a third go-round as John McClane opposite co-star Samuel L. Jackson in the underrated, “Die Hard with a Vengeance” (1995).
Willis’ collaboration with writer-director Walter Hill on "Last Man Standing" (1996), a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai masterpiece "Yojimbo," turned out to be a torturous affair. As the 1990s wore on, Willis comfortably wore the mantle of action hero – despite chafing at the garment's limitations – in such big-budgeted effects-laden efforts as Luc Besson's "The Fifth Element" (1997), which enjoyed a tremendous worldwide box office against meager US returns, and the blockbuster "Armageddon" (1998), which depicted him as an oil driller who sacrifices his life to save the world from a giant meteor. Around that same period, Willis attempted a change of pace with his first large-scale, villainous role as the titular mercenary killer in the watchable, but ultimately disappointing thriller, "The Jackal" (1997). It was back to the same old, same old for "Mercury Rising" (1998), an action thriller about an FBI agent (Willis) helping an autistic child (Miko Hughes) find safety after accidentally discovering a secret code. Willis’ power hungry general also single-handedly altered the tone of "The Siege" (1998) from a serious-minded thriller to a one-dimensional, cartoon shoot-em-up.
In 1999, Willis finally made a life-long pet project, playing Dwayne Hoover, the suicidal car salesman from author Kurt Vonnegut’s "Breakfast of Champions.” He wisely chose to act in that year's paranormal surprise hit, "The Sixth Sense,” which presented him at his most subdued, endearing and effective opposite 12-year-old Haley Joel Osment, a boy who sees dead people. The star also undertook a role which paralleled his own life in Rob Reiner's comedy-drama "The Story of Us" (also 1999), drawing on his own difficulties with Demi Moore for its sad-sack story of a marriage in trouble. In 2000, Willis continued to resist the call of the action hero, playing a fast-paced, but unhappy Los Angeles executive who gets in touch with his physically manifested inner child (Spencer Breslin) in “Disney's The Kid.” After reuniting with M. Night Shyamalan in the supernatural thriller "Unbreakable" (2000), Willis scored a surprise hit with "The Whole Ten Yards," a broad comedy in which he was ex-mobster and friendly suburban neighbor Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski.
Returning to the small screen for a three-episode arc on NBC's hit sitcom "Friends” (1994-2004), Willis picked up his second Emmy playing the disapproving father of a college co-ed dating the character of Ross (David Schwimmer) who winds up romancing Rachel (Jennifer Aniston). On the big screen, Willis was back to being laconic in "Bandits" (2001), playing a prison escapee who robs a number of banks with his hypochondriac partner (Billy Bob Thornton), even though both fall in love with a runaway housewife (Cate Blanchett). Willis was used to better effect as an American P.O.W. presiding over a murder trial in the WWII drama "Hart's War" (2002), then as the leader of a special operations force on a search and rescue mission in the jungles of Africa in "Tears of the Sun" (2003). That year he also voiced the animated canine Spike in "Rugrats Go Wild" and had an unaccredited, nearly unrecognizable cameo in "Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle," the comeback vehicle for friendly ex-wife Moore, before reprising Jimmy the Tulip for the dreadful sequel "The Whole Ten Yards.”
He popped up with another cameo appearance, playing himself in "Ocean's 12" (2004), the rather unworthy sequel to the 2001 caper comedy hit. Willis returned to the thriller genre with the Miramax-produced "Hostage" (2005), with a screenplay written by bestselling novelist Robert Crais. In the film, he was a failed LAPD hostage negotiator who, as a suburban police chief, finds himself forced to rely on his old skills to save his estranged family. Though the film had merits, it failed at the box office. He was better served in the highly stylized "Sin City" (2005), Robert Rodriguez's visually arresting adaptation of Frank Miller's crime noir comic book series. In the film's best segment, "That Yellow Bastard," Willis had the plum role of Hartigan, a noble, but world-weary and heart-troubled cop who goes to jail rather than lead the corrupt family of a pedophile to the victim he saved, only to become embroiled again with all of the players in his past.
Returning to animation, Willis voiced the manipulative and opportunistic raccoon, RJ, in DreamWorks’ “Over the Hedge” (2005), an amusing, though standard comedy about a group of forest critters trying to reclaim a neighboring backyard after waking from their long winter’s nap. In “Lucky Number Slevin” (2006), he was a notorious hit man who helps a man (Josh Hartnett) trapped between two crime bosses (Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley) – thanks to a case of mistaken identity – to get them before they get him. After a small part as a bigwig cattle supplier in “Fast Food Nation” (2006), Willis made a cameo as a retired astronaut who tries to convince a determined farmer (Billy Bob Thornton) not to build his own rocket ship in “The Astronaut Farmer” (2006). Willis returned to leading man status in the well-made popcorn thriller “16 Blocks” (2006), playing a hard-drinking, hard-living New York City cop tasked with transporting a petty criminal (Mos Def) to his grand jury testimony against a corrupt cop (David Morse), only to learn the hard way that the cop wants the witness dead.
Willis made another off-kilter cameo, this time as a macho military fanatic in the “Planet Terror” segment of “Grindhouse” (2007), a compilation of two 90-minute horror flicks from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez that was a throwback to the days of bloody, sex-fueled, low-rent double features that played in seedy 42nd Street theaters in New York City. He then reverted to playing the heavy in “Perfect Stranger” (2007), a dull and lifeless thriller about an investigative reporter (Halle Berry) who poses as a temp at an advertising agency in order to unravel the murder of a friend connected to a powerful ad executive (Willis). Meanwhile, action fans had cause to scream a celebratory “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*****!” in the summer with the long-awaited return of hero-cop John McClane in the fourth installment of the “Die Hard” series, “Live Free or Die Hard” (2007). Returning to the signature role he created nearly twenty years earlier, Willis played an older, less resilient John McClane entering middle-age who – when duty calls – would prove that once an action hero, always an action hero.
Profession(s):
Actor, producer, singer, screenwriter, harmonica player, songwriter, waiter, security guard, bartender Sometimes Credited As:
Walter Bruce Willis
Family
brother:David Willis (Serves as vice president of Willis' production company)
brother:Robert Willis (Formerly in partnership with Skyline Entertainment; died of pancreatic cancer at age 42 on June 26, 2001)
daughter:Rumer Glenn Willis (Born Aug. 16, 1988; mother, Demi Moore; named after British novelist Rumer Godden; made feature film debut opposite mother Demi Moore in "Striptease" (1996))
daughter:Scout LaRue Willis (Born July 20, 1991; mother, Demi Moore; first name comes from child narrator of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird")
daughter:Tallulah Belle Willis (Born Feb. 3, 1994; mother, Demi Moore; appeared with Moore as baby Pearl in "The Scarlet Letter" (1995))
father:David Willis (Acted in "Die Hard 2" (1990) and "Mortal Thoughts" (1991); divorced from Willis' mother in 1971)
grandfather:E G Willis (Willis named a building in Hailey, Idaho after him)
mother:Marlene Willis (Worked in a bank; moved to California after her 1971 divorce from Willis' father)
wife:Demi Moore (Married in Las Vegas, NV on Nov. 21, 1987; acted together in "Mortal Thoughts" (1991); announced separation in June 1998; divorced in October 2000)
Companion(s)
Brooke Burns , Companion , ```..Began dating in August 2003; rumored to be engaged as of April 2004; reportedly split in June 2004
Emily Sandberg , Companion , ```..Dated in the fall of 2000
Maria Bravo , Companion , ```..Spanish; dated from 1999-2000
Sheri Rivera , Companion , ```..Lived together prior to his marriage to Moore; former wife of Geraldo Rivera
Education
Montclair State College Montclair, New Jersey
Penns Grove High School Penns Grove, New Jersey 1973
A raffish performer whose relaxed style and working-class persona made him an indelible favorite during his star-making turn on the quirky detective series, “Moonlighting” (ABC, 1985-89), actor Bruce Willis used his cocky charm and insatiable will to become one of the biggest movie stars in the world. A surprisingly versatile performer, Willis hit his peak as an action hero during the late 1980s and early 1990s, especially as the star of the behemoth hit “Die Hard” (1988). Proving he was more than a one-note song, Willis put his acting chops on display as Butch, the washed-up pugilist in director Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (1994). His career hit a bumpy road, however, as he approached middle age – around the same time his fabled marriage to fellow A-lister Demi Moore came to an end. But Willis later reinvented himself as a lead of serious dramas, especially with an impressive turn as haunted psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Crowe in director M. Night Shyamalan’s landmark thriller, “The Sixth Sense” (1999). Willis would continue his association with Shyamalan well into the next decade, refining his image as a venerable actor with true talent – and enough of a sense of humor to return to his “Die Hard,” once again starring as a middle-aged John McClain in “Live Free or Die Hard” (2007).
The eldest of four children, Walter Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955, in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, where his father was a welder serving in the U.S. military. The family later moved to Penns Grove, NJ, where Willis spent the remainder of his childhood. Nicknaming himself ‘Bruno’ to gain confidence, Willis quickly became a popular student; even going on to become student body president. Unfortunately, Willis’ political career went up in smoke his senior year when he was suspended for three months – allegedly for smoking pot. After toiling around New Jersey and working menial jobs following graduation – namely at a nearby DuPont chemical factory and as a security guard at a nuclear power plant – Willis decided to give acting a try. While taking classes at Montclair State College, the future star also began to play harmonica in a local blues band called the Loose Goose – a regular ritual which helped the fledgling musician overcome his natural stutter.
Willis broke through both professionally and personally with the school’s production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” With the determination of someone who knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, Willis promptly dropped out of MSC at 19 and moved to New York City, NY to find acting work. In 1977, Willis landed his first stage gig with a role in an off-Broadway production of “Heaven and Earth.” But for the most part, he struggled to find acting work while paying the rent with bartending gigs at Chelsea Central and Kamikaze. Willis continued to perform in other off-Broadway roles and appeared briefly in films like “The First Deadly Sin” (1980) and “The Verdict” (1982), as well as occasionally landing guest spots on episodes of “Hart to Hart” (ABC, 1979-1984) and “Miami Vice” (NBC, 1984-89). During the wild 1980s – an era awash in booze and drugs – his devil-may-care bartender attitude fit in perfectly with the night owls of the Big Apple’s surreal after-hours swirl. And like many bartenders-by-night/thespians-by-day, Willis was also developing serious acting chops.
In 1984, his first big break came when he replaced Ed Harris in Sam Shepard's off-Broadway hit, "Fool for Love.” This led to an audition for "Desperately Seeking Susan" (1985) – the Susan Seidelman-helmed mistaken identity comedy starring Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. Though he failed to land the part, Willis stuck around Hollywood an extra day to read for what became a career-launching role – playing wisecracking private investigator David Addison on ABC’s wildly successful “Moonlighting.” Arriving to the audition in combat fatigues and sporting a punk haircut, he eventually beat out 3,000 other hopefuls because of his unconventional look and cocky attitude. Starring opposite a smug, but demure Cybill Shepherd, Willis possessed the charm of a young Jimmy Cagney. Before long, the hip dialogue-driven romantic comedy became one of the most inventive shows of the decade. Unfortunately, the show’s success also bred its share of personality conflicts. Widely publicized battles involving the two stars and show creator Glenn Gordon Caron resulted in production delays and numerous repeat episodes. But the behind-the-scenes tensions helped fuel the palpable onscreen sexual energy between Willis and Shepherd. The carnal edge to their rocky relationship was finally consummated at the end of the 1986-87 season – an event considered by many fans to be the moment when the series “jumped-the-shark.” Willis did, however, win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama that same season.
After appearing in guest spots on several TV shows, in addition to starring in the series pilot for an updated incarnation of "The Twilight Zone" (CBS, 1985-87), Willis headlined his own music special, "The Return of Bruno" (HBO, 1987), a mockumentary highlighting fictional blues singer Bruno Radolini (Willis) and his band, The Heaters. From there, Willis landed starring roles in two uneven Blake Edwards’s comedies, "Blind Date" (1987) and "Sunset" (1988). The actor’s charming "Moonlighting" smirk notwithstanding, little of Willis’ small screen appeal translated to the big screen and he was pegged as just another fading television personality unable to make the transition into features. But when Hollywood super-agent Arnold Rifkin landed Willis the lead role in the action-film "Die Hard,” Willis was thrust into the big time. News broke that he would earn an unprecedented $5 million payday, raising a hue and cry throughout Hollywood that no actor with such trifling films credits should command such a substantial amount of money.
In hindsight, Willis’ salary was a bargain. The action thriller – about a New York cop (Willis) trapped in a corporate high-rise when a gang of terrorists hold employees hostage – spawned a franchise and launched Willis as an action-hero on par with the likes of Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Willis' wise-guy machismo worked perfectly for the film’s hero, John McClane, leading him to reprise the role in the sequel "Die Hard II: Die Harder" (1990). Meanwhile, he supplied the voice of Mikey in the hit comedy "Look Who's Talking" (1989) and its limp follow-up "Look Who's Talking Too" (1990), then stretched his talents with a surprisingly good performance as the cynical, shell-shocked Vietnam veteran of "In Country" (1989). Willis went on to flex his acting muscles as the low-life murder victim in "Mortal Thoughts" (1991, opposite then-wife Demi Moore) and the hapless plastic surgeon in the horror comedy "Death Becomes Her" (1992) – occasional high points in the midst of some extraordinary disasters. Less successful were the abysmal "Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990) based on Tom Wolfe’s novel, the self-indulgent action flop "Hudson Hawk" (1991) – for which he co-wrote the story and theme song – as well as the box-office disappointments "Billy Bathgate" (1991) and "The Last Boy Scout" (1991), all of which threatened to permanently damage his career.
Once again, critics were wont to write Willis off, just as they did during his post-“Moonlighting” missteps. He defied them all, however, rebounding nicely with several off-beat roles that ran counter to his action hero persona. After spoofing himself in Robert Altman's Hollywood satire "The Player" (1992), he emerged as a prizefighter who refuses to take a dive in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (1994). Though overshadowed by costar John Travolta’s sudden return to the limelight after his career had been pronounced dead, Willis nonetheless resuscitated himself in the film’s most memorable performance. He next starred in director Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi masterpiece "12 Monkeys" (1995), playing a time-traveling scientist whose self-sacrifice alters the course of the future for the betterment of mankind. Later that year, however, Willis suited up for a third go-round as John McClane opposite co-star Samuel L. Jackson in the underrated, “Die Hard with a Vengeance” (1995).
Willis’ collaboration with writer-director Walter Hill on "Last Man Standing" (1996), a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai masterpiece "Yojimbo," turned out to be a torturous affair. As the 1990s wore on, Willis comfortably wore the mantle of action hero – despite chafing at the garment's limitations – in such big-budgeted effects-laden efforts as Luc Besson's "The Fifth Element" (1997), which enjoyed a tremendous worldwide box office against meager US returns, and the blockbuster "Armageddon" (1998), which depicted him as an oil driller who sacrifices his life to save the world from a giant meteor. Around that same period, Willis attempted a change of pace with his first large-scale, villainous role as the titular mercenary killer in the watchable, but ultimately disappointing thriller, "The Jackal" (1997). It was back to the same old, same old for "Mercury Rising" (1998), an action thriller about an FBI agent (Willis) helping an autistic child (Miko Hughes) find safety after accidentally discovering a secret code. Willis’ power hungry general also single-handedly altered the tone of "The Siege" (1998) from a serious-minded thriller to a one-dimensional, cartoon shoot-em-up.
In 1999, Willis finally made a life-long pet project, playing Dwayne Hoover, the suicidal car salesman from author Kurt Vonnegut’s "Breakfast of Champions.” He wisely chose to act in that year's paranormal surprise hit, "The Sixth Sense,” which presented him at his most subdued, endearing and effective opposite 12-year-old Haley Joel Osment, a boy who sees dead people. The star also undertook a role which paralleled his own life in Rob Reiner's comedy-drama "The Story of Us" (also 1999), drawing on his own difficulties with Demi Moore for its sad-sack story of a marriage in trouble. In 2000, Willis continued to resist the call of the action hero, playing a fast-paced, but unhappy Los Angeles executive who gets in touch with his physically manifested inner child (Spencer Breslin) in “Disney's The Kid.” After reuniting with M. Night Shyamalan in the supernatural thriller "Unbreakable" (2000), Willis scored a surprise hit with "The Whole Ten Yards," a broad comedy in which he was ex-mobster and friendly suburban neighbor Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski.
Returning to the small screen for a three-episode arc on NBC's hit sitcom "Friends” (1994-2004), Willis picked up his second Emmy playing the disapproving father of a college co-ed dating the character of Ross (David Schwimmer) who winds up romancing Rachel (Jennifer Aniston). On the big screen, Willis was back to being laconic in "Bandits" (2001), playing a prison escapee who robs a number of banks with his hypochondriac partner (Billy Bob Thornton), even though both fall in love with a runaway housewife (Cate Blanchett). Willis was used to better effect as an American P.O.W. presiding over a murder trial in the WWII drama "Hart's War" (2002), then as the leader of a special operations force on a search and rescue mission in the jungles of Africa in "Tears of the Sun" (2003). That year he also voiced the animated canine Spike in "Rugrats Go Wild" and had an unaccredited, nearly unrecognizable cameo in "Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle," the comeback vehicle for friendly ex-wife Moore, before reprising Jimmy the Tulip for the dreadful sequel "The Whole Ten Yards.”
He popped up with another cameo appearance, playing himself in "Ocean's 12" (2004), the rather unworthy sequel to the 2001 caper comedy hit. Willis returned to the thriller genre with the Miramax-produced "Hostage" (2005), with a screenplay written by bestselling novelist Robert Crais. In the film, he was a failed LAPD hostage negotiator who, as a suburban police chief, finds himself forced to rely on his old skills to save his estranged family. Though the film had merits, it failed at the box office. He was better served in the highly stylized "Sin City" (2005), Robert Rodriguez's visually arresting adaptation of Frank Miller's crime noir comic book series. In the film's best segment, "That Yellow Bastard," Willis had the plum role of Hartigan, a noble, but world-weary and heart-troubled cop who goes to jail rather than lead the corrupt family of a pedophile to the victim he saved, only to become embroiled again with all of the players in his past.
Returning to animation, Willis voiced the manipulative and opportunistic raccoon, RJ, in DreamWorks’ “Over the Hedge” (2005), an amusing, though standard comedy about a group of forest critters trying to reclaim a neighboring backyard after waking from their long winter’s nap. In “Lucky Number Slevin” (2006), he was a notorious hit man who helps a man (Josh Hartnett) trapped between two crime bosses (Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley) – thanks to a case of mistaken identity – to get them before they get him. After a small part as a bigwig cattle supplier in “Fast Food Nation” (2006), Willis made a cameo as a retired astronaut who tries to convince a determined farmer (Billy Bob Thornton) not to build his own rocket ship in “The Astronaut Farmer” (2006). Willis returned to leading man status in the well-made popcorn thriller “16 Blocks” (2006), playing a hard-drinking, hard-living New York City cop tasked with transporting a petty criminal (Mos Def) to his grand jury testimony against a corrupt cop (David Morse), only to learn the hard way that the cop wants the witness dead.
Willis made another off-kilter cameo, this time as a macho military fanatic in the “Planet Terror” segment of “Grindhouse” (2007), a compilation of two 90-minute horror flicks from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez that was a throwback to the days of bloody, sex-fueled, low-rent double features that played in seedy 42nd Street theaters in New York City. He then reverted to playing the heavy in “Perfect Stranger” (2007), a dull and lifeless thriller about an investigative reporter (Halle Berry) who poses as a temp at an advertising agency in order to unravel the murder of a friend connected to a powerful ad executive (Willis). Meanwhile, action fans had cause to scream a celebratory “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*****!” in the summer with the long-awaited return of hero-cop John McClane in the fourth installment of the “Die Hard” series, “Live Free or Die Hard” (2007). Returning to the signature role he created nearly twenty years earlier, Willis played an older, less resilient John McClane entering middle-age who – when duty calls – would prove that once an action hero, always an action hero.
Profession(s):
Actor, producer, singer, screenwriter, harmonica player, songwriter, waiter, security guard, bartender Sometimes Credited As:
Walter Bruce Willis
Family
brother:David Willis (Serves as vice president of Willis' production company)
brother:Robert Willis (Formerly in partnership with Skyline Entertainment; died of pancreatic cancer at age 42 on June 26, 2001)
daughter:Rumer Glenn Willis (Born Aug. 16, 1988; mother, Demi Moore; named after British novelist Rumer Godden; made feature film debut opposite mother Demi Moore in "Striptease" (1996))
daughter:Scout LaRue Willis (Born July 20, 1991; mother, Demi Moore; first name comes from child narrator of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird")
daughter:Tallulah Belle Willis (Born Feb. 3, 1994; mother, Demi Moore; appeared with Moore as baby Pearl in "The Scarlet Letter" (1995))
father:David Willis (Acted in "Die Hard 2" (1990) and "Mortal Thoughts" (1991); divorced from Willis' mother in 1971)
grandfather:E G Willis (Willis named a building in Hailey, Idaho after him)
mother:Marlene Willis (Worked in a bank; moved to California after her 1971 divorce from Willis' father)
wife:Demi Moore (Married in Las Vegas, NV on Nov. 21, 1987; acted together in "Mortal Thoughts" (1991); announced separation in June 1998; divorced in October 2000)
Companion(s)
Brooke Burns , Companion , ```..Began dating in August 2003; rumored to be engaged as of April 2004; reportedly split in June 2004
Emily Sandberg , Companion , ```..Dated in the fall of 2000
Maria Bravo , Companion , ```..Spanish; dated from 1999-2000
Sheri Rivera , Companion , ```..Lived together prior to his marriage to Moore; former wife of Geraldo Rivera
Education
Montclair State College Montclair, New Jersey
Penns Grove High School Penns Grove, New Jersey 1973
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