70th birthday of Bruce Willis: The unforgettable one who forgets himself

He saved humanity from an asteroid and went on a dark time travel in search of twelve monkeys. He crashed into John Travolta (71) loudly on the quiet town, brought a spark of hope to the wicked “Sin City” and neither Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman, 1946-2016) nor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman, 66) were able to stop him from his heroicism. Bruce Willis (70), who turns 70 on March 19, caused countless happy ends during his canvas career – only he was not granted.

March 30, 2022 was an irretrievable turning point in the action cinema. At that time, the family of the actor announced in a joint statement that Willis, due to aphasia, i.e. damage to the language center in the brain, could no longer pursue his beloved profession and had to end his career with immediate effect. Not a year later the next bad news: the final diagnosis was frontotemporal dementia. In addition to the language disorder, the incurable disease usually also goes hand in hand with personality changes and memory loss.

At this point at the latest, every film fan was clear: Bruce Willis would never be himself again, never stand in front of the camera again. All the more, the 70th honorary day of the charming world star should now serve to honor his work and life.

Bruce Willis’s impressive career originated in a place 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, nobody suspected what an extraordinary career would be their son Bruce. But his time in Germany was too short to ever see it as his home. At eight months, the United States, more precisely New Jersey, will be its home.

The fact that one of the largest action actors was given to the world owe fans of rabid stripes to a large weakness of Willis: as a child and adolescent between the ages of 9 and 17, he had to fight with strong stuttering. It was only when he discovered the spectacle for himself should that change – stuttering was blown away on the theater stage. In a touching speech for the American Institute for Stuttering, he remembered this “miracle” in 2016 – but also the many years of bullying that he had to live through as a child.

In any case, as a teenager, he suddenly realized that it is suddenly clear to him: “This is, I’m at home. That is what I want to do.” The talent was discovered, but its promotion cost money. Because his parents were not necessarily financially blessed, Willis had to work hard for his dream. He worked as a security force for a chemical factory until he could afford acting classes at Montclair State College.

If the name Bruce Willis sounds, the inclined cineast first thinks of tough testosterone cinema, preferably in the blood-soaked fine rib shirt. At the beginning of his career, he was a real softie and crush of women. When the fame has not yet reached and the main hair was still full, he played mostly in romantic comedies, for example in “Blind Date – Announcement with a stranger” in which he was wild with Kim Basinger Turtel.

Also unforgettable Willis’ only series of production: In “The Model and the Schniffler” he fought five seasons long and in the best Screwballmanier Charming Verbal skirmish with co-star cybill shepherd.

Then the breakthrough in 1988: Barefoot ballerted in “Stirb slowly” through the Nakatomi Plaza and almost countless hordes of opponents of the antagonist Hans Gruber, greatly embodied by Alan Rickman. The action franchise was so successful that a total of four sequels followed – most recently in 2013, with a clearly aged but no less shooting John McClane. His famous sentence “Yippie-Ya-yeah, Schweinbacke” (in the original: “Yippie-Ya-yeah, motherfucker”).

The rest is history. From this iconic appearance, Willis played in at least one blockbuster every year whether “Pulp Fiction”, “12 Monkeys”, “The Fifth Element” or “Sin City”. Until 2019 and the “Glass”, which was published at the time, the third part of the “Unbreakable” series, should Willis’ take remarkable cinema-before he increasingly went into ungrateful “Direct to …”.

Bruce Willis’s filmography extends until 2023 – the year before, eleven (!) Films had appeared with him. However, the quality of these low-budget strips speaks for themselves and the publication strategies were cynical to morbid in the end. So the makers really seemed to be balanced to market their machies as “the last film by Bruce Willis”.

At the time when all of these interchangeable action blocks were shot, Willis led the first symptoms of his disease, which was later diagnosed as dementia. The fact that they represent the official end of his work may be huge. But they are not representative of his entire work, which will be firmly linked to film history forever.

Bruce Willis found his private happiness alongside two women. From 1987 to 2000 he was married to actress Demi Moore. The couple have the three daughters Rumer, Scout Larue and Tallulah Belle. Even more female power was put at the side of the canvas macho in his second marriage with the 24-year-old photo model Emma Heming. The two became parents of another daughter in 2012 and 2014.

It is his seven women who have a firm hold since the shocking diagnosis. Again and again they publish updates to the star, post pictures and address loving words to the loyal fans around the globe. Her clear message: Bruce Willis may no longer be the almost invincible action hero than we all remember. But he is still here and offers his forehead to his worst adversary. And for this a fervent “Yippie-Ya-yeah, pork cheek.”