Date of Birth: March 19, 1955
Place of Birth: Idar-Oberstein, former West Germany
Sign: Sun in Pisces, Moon in Aquarius
Relations: Father: David (welder, factory worker); mother: Marlene; brother: David (producer); wife (separated): Demi Moore; kids: Rumer, Scout, Tallulah (all with Moore); companion: Maria Bravo (marketing executive)
Education: Montclair State College dropout
FROM WORKING THE floor of an industrial factory to saving the world in various movies, in 15 short years… Walter Bruce Willis has come a long way.
While working for a factory, Bruce decided to throw his fate to the winds and become an actor. He moved to New York, where he spent his time auditioning by day, and bartending at night. Bruce got his big break in 1985 when he landed the role of detective David Addison on the hit TV show Moonlighting.
Bruce’s transition from TV to film was simple and mysteriously easy.
After three years of Moonlighting, Bruce landed the lead role in a comedy Blind Date, which led to another important role in Bruce’s career; detective John McClane in Die Hard.
Bruce is one of those actors in Hollywood, who really does have the talent.
His range has been proven limitless. Bruce has been in comedies, actions, dramas and horror movies.
Going back in time a little, after the great success Willis got after Die Hard, he stumbled for a few years on some really bad flicks including Bonfire of the Vanities and his writing debut Hudson Hawk.
The bad karma went away after Bruce took on a really small role in a Quentin Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction. The movie, became a smash hit and since then, Bruse has been on a continuous roll.
On the personal level, Bruce married brat packer Demi Moore for eleven years, until a yet to be explained separation on 24 June 1998.
He is currently dating Spanish model Maria Bravo Rosado
He is also part owner (along with Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger) of the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain.
His talents don’t stop here.
Bruce, if any of you can remember, recorded an album of blues songs, The Return of Bruno, which spawned a top 40 hit, Under the Boardwalk, in 1998.
The blue-collar Jersey native is an army brat and the eldest of four children. He was born on a military base in Idar Oberstein, Germany His father was discharged in 1957, and he took the family back to the States where they settled in Carneys Point, NJ so that dad could work at the Camden Shipyard.
Throughout his teenage years, Willis attended high school in nearby Penns Grove, where he was elected student council president and was active in various darama clubs.
Instead of entering university thing straight out of high school, Willis found full-time work transporting work crews at the Du Pont factory down the road in Deepwaters. An industrial accident that claimed the life of a fellow driver prompted him to rethink his commitment to the blue-collar life, and he quit his job shortly thereafter.
For Willis, the requisite pay-the-bills job was a gig tending bar at the trendy Cafe Central, which at the time was a hip networking spot for many of the celebrities involved in the New York acting scene. When not mixing drinks with his left hand ( he is left-handed), he fearlessly pursued acting jobs.
He made his off-Broadway debut in a production of Heaven and Earth. The rest, as they say, is history.
Movies:
2000 Disney’s The Kid
2000 The Whole Nine Yards
1999 The Story of Us
1999 Breakfast of Champions
1999 The Sixth Sense
1998 The Siege
1999 Die Hard 4
1998 Against All Enemies
1998 Breakfast of Champions
1998 Armageddon
1998 Mercury Rising
1997 The Jackal
1997 The Fifth Element
1996 Last Man Standing
1996 Beavis and Butthead Do America
1995 Four Rooms
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance
1995 12 Monkeys
1994 Pulp Fiction
1994 North
1994 Nobody's Fool
1994 Color of Night
1993 Striking Distance
1993 National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
1992 The Player
1992 Death Becomes her
1991 The Last Boy Scout
1991 Mortal Thoughts
1991 Hudson Hawk
1991 Billy Bathgate
1990 Look Who's Talking Too
1990 Die Hard 2: Die Harder
1990 Bonfire of the Vanities
1989 That's Adequate
1989 Look Who's Talking
1989 In Country
1988 Sunset
1988 Die Hard
1987 Blind Date
TV:
1997 Mad About You
1996 Bruno the Kid
1986 Bruce Willis: The Return of Bruno
1985-1989 Moonlighting
1985 The Twilight Zone
1984 Miami Vice
Music:
1989 If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger
1986 The Return of Bruno
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
