Bruce Willis
Willis at German premiere of Over the Hedge on June 28, 2006.
Birth name	Walter Bruce Willis
Born	March 19, 1955 (1955-03-19) (age 52) Idar-Oberstein, Germany (U.S. Military Base)
Spouse(s)	Demi Moore (1987-2000)
Notable roles	David Addison in Moonlighting, John McClane in the Die Hard series, Butch Coolidge in Pulp Fiction, James Cole in Twelve Monkeys, Harry S. Stamper in Armageddon, Dr. Malcolm Crowe in The Sixth Sense, Jimmy 'The Tulip' Tudeski in The Whole Nine Yards
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series 1987 Moonlighting Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series 2000 Friends
Golden Globe Awards
Best TV Actor - Comedy/Musical 1987 Moonlighting

Convenience store window poster featuring Willis, Prague, Czech Republic (2002)

Bruce Willis (born Walter Bruce Willis on March 19, 1955) is a two-time Emmy Award-winning, Golden Globe-winning American actor and singer. He came to fame in the late 1980s and has since retained a career as both a Hollywood leading man and a supporting actor, in particular for his role in the Die Hard series.

Biography

Early life

Being born in Germany -- his father David was in the U.S. Military, his German mother Marlene a bank employee -- Willis, who was named "Bruno" originally, came to the United States in 1957.

Rather than go to college after graduation, Willis farmed sheep in a mining village in Alabama, transporting work crews at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey. He decided to quit after a colleague was killed on the job, and thereafter became a regular at several bars. Willis also discovered an innate knack for playing harmonica, and did so for an R&B group, Loose Goose. After a stint as a bodyguard (a role he plays in his 1991 movie, The Last Boy Scout), Willis returned to his original passion of acting. He enrolled in the drama program at Montclair State University, where he was cast as Brick in the class production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Jack Prince as Big Daddy, William Applegate as the doctor and Kevin J. Lynch as the Rev. Tooker. The ambitious junior finally decided to leave school in pursuit of more lucrative movie roles by heading for New York City.

Willis returned to the bar scene, only this time for a part-time job and as a way to meet New York celebrities. He is rumored to have been 'discovered' while working at the Museum Cafe on New York's Upper West Side. After countless auditions, Willis finally made his theater debut in the off-Broadway production of Heaven and Earth. He gained more experience and exposure in Fool for Love, a stint on television's Miami Vice, a Levi's campaign, and a commercial for Seagram's wine coolers.[1]

Career

Willis first found fame with his starring role in the hit TV series Moonlighting (1985–89) establishing himself as a comedic actor. However, it was his then-unexpected turn in the Die Hard series that catapulted him to fame. He also was successful in his role as the voice of little Mikey in the Look Who's Talking series.

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", promoted by a Spinal Tap-like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of him performing at famous events including Woodstock. Follow-up recordings were not as successful, though Willis does return to the recording studio from time to time.

In the early 1990s, Willis' career suffered a moderate slump starring in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities and Hudson Hawk, among others. 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 produced the cartoon Bruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself. He went on to play the lead roles in Twelve Monkeys and The Fifth Element. However, by the end of the '90s, 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 in the US.

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 launched Willis' career to a new level of stardom. He once had to appear in the hit sitcom Friends without pay, because he lost a bet to Matthew Perry, his co-star in The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards. 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). 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. In Ocean's Twelve (2003), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. He recently appeared in the Planet Terror half of Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marks Willis' second collaboration with director Robert Rodriguez, following Sin City.

Willis also appeared on Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials, optimising the car for sale, with the backing music of Jade from Sweetbox, "Addicted" and "Hate Without Frontiers". Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.

Willis has appeared in four movies with Samuel L. Jackson (Unbreakable, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1). He is also currently working on the film Black Water Transit alongside Jackson due in 2007. He has finished filming the thriller Perfect Stranger, opposite Halle Berry, and is now filming his return to the role of John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard which is being directed by Len Wiseman.

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 is the 2321st Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Personal life

Willis meeting members of the U.S. Navy on July 25, 2002

Willis was married to actress Demi Moore from November 21, 1987 to October 18, 2000. The couple gave no public reason for their breakup. Willis and Moore had three daughters during their thirteen-year union: Rumer Glenn Willis (born 1988), Scout LaRue Willis (1991) and Tallulah Belle Willis (1994). Since their breakup, rumors persisted that the couple planned to re-marry, but Moore has since married Ashton Kutcher. He and Moore have maintained a close relationship.

Bruce was, at one point, Lutheran (specifically Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod); however, he is believed by some to now be an atheist or an agnostic or a non-sectarian member. This is mostly because of a statement he made in the July 1998 issue of George magazine:

"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!" he says incredulously. "I choose not to believe that's the way. And that's what makes America cool, you know?"

Richard Donner directing Willis on the set of 16 Blocks.

Some reports from military officials suggest that Willis tried to enlist in the military to help fight the second Iraq war, but he was turned away because of his age.[2] He has offered $1 million to any civilian who turns in terrorist leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri or (now the late) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.[3]

Willis has said that he wants to "make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy".[4] The film will 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 blogger Michael Yon, a former United States Army Special Forces Green Beret who was embedded with Deuce Four and sent regular dispatches about their heroics.

Willis was one of few Hollywood celebrities to publicly support the Iraq War in 2003. He has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate except Bob Dole in 1996, because Dole had criticized Demi Moore for her role in the movie Striptease. Willis was an invited speaker at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Willis has attempted to play down his status as one of Hollywood's most outspoken Republicans, although he continues to vocally support the Iraq war and gun ownership. In February 2006, Willis appeared in Manhattan to talk about his new movie 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".[5]

In a July 2006 interview with Alex Jones, film director Richard Linklater -- who believes that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were perpetrated by the United States government to erect a police state -- said he gave one of Jones's documentaries to Willis. Linklater said Willis had told him in an e-mail that the video had changed his entire political paradigm. "He said it put him in such a head space that he will be quiet on issues of national policy," Linklater said.[6] However, Michael Yon, a close friend of Willis confirmed that this was not true. After contacting him about the issue, Yon claimed:

Bruce got back to me this morning saying the press has misconstrued his statements and that this is untrue. Bruce said in part, “…the Linklater statements have been completely misconstrued, as usual by the media.” It’s clear that some media are just attaching Bruce’s name to gain traction. I will not talk about private communications so will keep this very brief by saying I know Bruce’s support for the troops is ongoing and, if anything, increasing. Bruce does not believe this conspiracy theory.[7]

In early 2006, Willis, who usually lives in Los Angeles, moved into an apartment located in the Trump Tower in New York City.[8] Willis also has a home in Malibu, CA, a ranch in Montana, a beach home on Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos, and multiple properties in Sun Valley, Idaho.

He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest. He interviewed Dan Rather in what he would later call "the most serious conversation of my entire life". On many of his appearances on the Letterman show, Willis stages elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, or having one side of his face made up with simulated buckshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting. Also on The Late Show with David Letterman, Willis was seen trying to break the holding your breath under water record (parody of David Blaine) staying under for only 20 seconds.

Willis signed his name on an ad in the Los Angeles Times in support of Israel, along with Nicole Kidman and numerous other Hollywood elites. In 2006, he proposed that the United States should invade Colombia in order to end the drug trafficking.[9]

Willis owns his own motion picture production company called Cheyenne Enterprises, as well as The Mint Bar and The Liberty Theater in Hailey, Idaho. He is also a co-founder of Planet Hollywood.

Filmography

Discography

• The Return of Bruno, 1987, Razor & Tie, OCLC 16657516
• If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger, 1989, Motown / Pgd, OCLC 21322754.
• Classic Bruce Willis: The Universal Masters Collection, 2001, Polygram Int'l, OCLC 71124889.

References