Thanks to iconic films like Die Hard and The Sixth Sense , Bruce Willis quickly cemented his status as a mega movie star.
As for his personal life? Well, he’s also turned a few heads. He had his high profile marriage (and divorce) to Demi Moore, on-set demands that once got people fired, and even a music career.
Eager to learn more? Here are 10+ facts about the actor.
1. He was born in Germany.
He may seem like your all-American man, but Bruce’s dad first met his mom when he was stationed in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany.
Two years after Bruce was born, they moved to Carneys Point, New Jersey.
2. He got Lee Grant, the director from *Broadway Brawler*, fired from the film.
He also got rid of Grant’s husband and producer Joe Feury, cinematographer William Fraker, and wardrobe designer Carol Oditz.
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Yikes! The reason? Creative differences , of course. This move resulted in the film never finishing.
Instead of wasting more money, Disney footed the production cost while Willis agreed to star in three Disney movies.
This was Armageddon , The Sixth Sense , and The Kid .
It worked out for him, in any case.
3. He appeared on *Friends* for free after losing a bet to Matthew Perry.
He truly is a “neat” guy.
He ended up donating his paycheck to five of his favorite charities: The American Foundation for AIDS Research, AIDS Project Los Angeles, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Rape Treatment Center, and UCLA Unicamp for underprivileged children.
4. He was a well-known New York City bartender.
Back when he was a struggling actor, he took odd jobs to make ends meet.
This led to him tending bar at Chelsea Central on New York City’s Upper West Side.
Soon, he earned clout for his skills.
“Bruce was the best bartender in New York,” actor John Goodman told The New York Post .
“He kept an entire joint entertained all night. He just kept the show going. He was amazing.”
5. He loves being a dad.
He has three kids — Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah — with ex-wife, Demi Moore (two with his other ex-wife).
“They are not my possessions, but they are my angels. They are my three favourite people on earth and I could sit and talk to them all day long, all year long, and goof around with them,” he told The Guardian .
6. He had a music career.
Before he became one of the most talked-about action stars in the 1980s, Bruce dropped a Motown album called “The Return of Bruno.”
His rendition of “Respect Yourself” even landed number five on the Billboard Hot 100!
7. He was on TV.
You may know him as a movie star, but back in the ’80s, he played David Addison on Moonlight from 1985 to 1989.
He beat out thousands of other actors for the part.
8. *Die Hard* was his big break.
In addition to cementing himself as a movie star, he even earned a salary that was unheard of at the time.
20th Century Fox agreed to pay Willis $5 million for the role, while other stars like Tom Cruise were only getting $3 million at the time.
“It was an enormous amount of money at the time,” Willis told *Entertainment Weekly*.
“And I was a TV actor! The day after I signed the deal, every actor in Hollywood’s salary went up to $5 million,” he said .
9. He was in a cartoon.
Bruno may be his nickname, but it’s also the name of the animated character he played on Bruno the Kid .
The 1996 show, which was about an 11-year-old spy, only lasted one season.
10. He had a bad stutter as a kid.
The only thing that helped him overcome it was acting.
“When I stepped off the stage, I started stuttering again,” Willis told Reader’s Digest . “And I went, ‘This is a miracle. I’ve got to investigate this more.'”
11. He wore a bizarre outfit to his *Moonlight* audition.
While he landed the part in the end, he did turn quite a few heads in the process.
According to Newsweek , he had “a spiky-punk hairdo, combat fatigues and an earring,”
12. He suffered two-thirds partial hearing loss while filming *Die Hard*.
According to the actor, his tendency to say, “Whaaa?'” happened after he filmed one scene under the table.
While the actors were shooting blanks, the sound of the gun was still so loud and close to Bruce’s ear.
13. He’s super close with his ex-wife, Demi Moore.
The pair first met in 1987 at the premiere of action-comedy Stakeout . Fun fact: her fiancé at the time was in the film.
Clearly, things didn’t work out, though, as Bruce and Demi got married four months later.
Sadly, they divorced 11 years later in 1998.
Despite this, there’s no bad blood.
“We managed to move the heart of our relationship, the heart of what created our family, into something new that gave the girls a loving, supportive environment with both parents,” Moore wrote in her memoir, Inside Out .
14. He self-isolated with Moore at the beginning of quarantine.
Nothing can keep this family apart — not even a pandemic!
As “best friends,” it wasn’t weird at all when Willis went to stay with Demi and their three kids.
15. He put a $1 million bounty on Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.
He just wanted to feel safe.
“I want to live in a world – and so do the Iraqi people – where they can move from their homes to the market and not have to fear being killed,” he told news anchor, Rita Crosby. “Doesn’t everybody want that? Who doesn’t want that?”
