Bruce Willis: The cult baldness for hairy situations turns 65

He already saved the world from an asteroid, traveled through time, banged John Travolta (66) on the locus and died slowly five times to date: Bruce Willis (65) has been a veteran of the screen for decades. A man who made a virtue of his greatest weakness, is far more complex than his action résumé of the past years suggests, and also with his now 65 years tirelessly holds the now hairless head in the cameras of big blockbusters. Hopefully for many years to come, despite the retirement age.

A stupid start

The impressive career of today's birthday child originated in a café in Germany. It was 1955 in the tranquil village of Idar-Oberstein in Rhineland-Palatinate. When the US soldier David Willis and his wife Marlene became parents on March 19, no one suspected what an extraordinary career their son Bruce would have had. But Willis can not remember his time in Germany, at the age of eight months the United States, more precisely New Jersey, became his home.

Fans of the rabid strips owe the fact that one of the greatest action actors to date was given to the world because of a great weakness of Willis: as a child and adolescent between the ages of 9 and 17, he had to fight with stuttering. Only when he discovered the spectacle for himself did that change – the stuttering on the theater stage was blown away. In a touching speech for the American Institute for Stuttering, he recalled this "miracle" in 2016 – but also the many years of bullying that he had to go through as a child.

At any rate, when he was a teenager, he suddenly realized when it came to acting: "That's it, I'm at home. That's what I want to do." The talent was discovered, but promoting it cost money. Because his parents weren't necessarily financially blessed, Willis had to work hard for his dream. He worked as a security guard for a chemical plant until he could afford acting classes at Montclair State College.

From romantic to one-man army

When the name Bruce Willis sounds, the inclined cineast first thinks of tough Testosterone cinema, preferably in a blood-soaked fine rib undershirt. At the beginning of his career, he was a real softie and swarm of women. When fame had not yet been reached and the hair on the head was still full, he played mostly in romantic comedies, such as "Blind Date – Appointment with a Stranger" (1987), in which he fussed wildly with Kim Basinger (66).

The breakthrough in 1988: Willis shot himself barefoot in "Die hard" through the Nakatomi Plaza and almost innumerable hordes of opponents. The action franchise was so successful that there were four sequels today – most recently in 2013, with a clearly aged but no less gun-happy John McClane. His famous, albeit creatively translated sentence "Yippie-Ya-Yeah, pork cheek" (in the original: "Yippie-Ya-Yeah, motherfucker") is unforgettable.

The rest is history. From this iconic appearance, Willis played in at least one blockbuster every year, whether "Pulp Fiction" (1994), "12 Monkeys" (1995), "The Fifth Element" (1997) or "Sin City" (2005). He set the record in 2012: He was featured in an incredible six films this year, from the comedy "Moonrise Kingdom", the science fiction flick "Looper", to his flagship discipline, the action firework "The Expandables 2" ". Most recently, Willis was seen in cinemas in December 2019, alongside Edward Norton (50) in the crime film "Motherless Brooklyn".

Raspberry vs. Oscar

Although Willis has appeared in over 100 productions in his long career, it has not even been enough for an Oscar nomination. On the contrary, Willis has been awarded the Golden Raspberry three times as the worst leading actor. He received the anti-award, traditionally awarded shortly before the Academy Awards, for his roles in "Armageddon" (1998), "The Mercury Puzzle" (1998) and "State of Emergency" (1998).

Goldthroat and Ladies-Man

What if he isn't in front of the camera? Then Willis loves to sing. He has already released two albums, the LP "The Return of Bruno" even achieved platinum status. He still performs sporadically with his band today – if the busy schedule allows it, of course.

So far, he has found his private happiness alongside two women. From 1987 to 2000 he was married to actress Demi Moore (57). The couple has three daughters, Rumer (* 1988), Scout LaRue (* 1991) and Tallulah Belle (* 1994). Even more female power was put to the side of the screen macho in his second marriage to the 24 year younger photo model Emma Heming (41). Both became parents of another daughter in 2012 and 2014. And so Mr. Willis is and remains an absolute ladies man even at 65.