Bruce Willis Obituary
Lawton – Bruce Willis, NTA (a popular acronym for Not The Actor), passed away unexpectedly at his home on November 15, 2021, at 78. Bruce was born on June 28, 1943, in Hammond, Indiana, to his parents, Katherine MacMurrough Willis (deceased) and Frank F. Willis Jr.
Bruce graduated from Lawton High School in 1961. After high school, he attended Western Michigan University until he married his sweetheart, Sandra Kay Root Willis, in 1963. Bruce completed his bachelor’s degree in education and his master’s degree in counselling from Michigan State University. He taught at Walter French Jr. High School in Lansing for ten years.
He and his family moved back to Lawton, where he became president of Wilco Machinery. He and his wife created a lovely family home by Cedar Lake, where they can enjoy wonderful moments together. He was a charter member of the Cedar Lake Association, a board member of the Van Buren County Commissioners, and a member of Van Buren Mental Health. He also helped organize Lawton’s Kids Dream Park.
Bruce was predeceased by his parents and nephew, Thomas Allen Padden. He is lovingly remembered by his wife of 58 wonderful years, Sandra Willis; his two caring sisters, Penny Willis-Feeney and Tara Prior; and his two beloved daughters, Sonya Lynn Willis and Tonya Rae Willis-Blanchard. His four grandchildren, Kylie Katherine Bean, Harley Jane Bean, Ember Rae Blanchard, and Sawyer Ann Blanchard; his brother and sister-in-law; several nieces and one nephew.
A celebration of life is planned for June 25, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. at his home in Cedar Lake. His brother-in-law, John Root, will officiate. A picnic in his honour will follow the service. We invite family and friends to share their heartfelt condolences and memories online at www.whitley.obit@gmail.
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis is a legendary figure in American cinema. Known for his captivating performances and charismatic presence, he has left an indelible mark on the world of acting. Though he has retired from the spotlight, his legacy as one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors continues to inspire fans around the globe.
He gained popularity after his role in the comedy-drama series Moonlighting (1985–1989) and has acted in more than a hundred films. He gained recognition as an action hero for portraying John McClane in the Die Hard series (1988–2013).
Willis’ additional works feature The Last Boy Scout (1991), Pulp Fiction (1994), 12 Monkeys (1995), The Fifth Element (1997), Armageddon (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable, and The Whole Nine Yards (both from 2000), as well as Tears of the Sun (2003), Sin City (2005), The Expendables and Red (both released in 2010), Looper (2012), and Glass (2019).
In the latter years of his career, he starred in many low-budget direct-to-video films, but they were poorly received. Willis stepped away from his career in 2022 because of aphasia and received a diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia in 2023.
As a vocalist, Willis launched his first album, The Return of Bruno, in 1987, and subsequently put out two additional albums in 1989 and 2001. He made his Broadway debut in the 2015 stage adaptation of Misery. Willis has received various awards throughout his career, including a Golden Globe Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two People’s Choice Awards.
In 2006, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Films starring Willis have grossed between $2.64 billion and $3.05 billion at the North American box office, making him the eighth highest-grossing leading actor of 2010.
Early Life and Education
Walter Bruce Willis was in Idar-Oberstein, then the Federal Republic of Germany. His mother, Marlene, was a German from Kassel, and his father, David Willis, was an American soldier. He has a younger sister named Florence and two younger brothers, Robert (who is deceased) and David.
After his discharge from the military in 1957, his father moved the family to his hometown of Carneys Point, New Jersey. Willis has described his background as a “long line of blue-collar workers.” His mother worked in a bank, and his father worked as a welder, mechanic, and factory worker.
Willis spoke with a stutter. He attended Penns Grove High School in Carneys Point Township, where his classmates called him “Buck-Buck.” Willis joined the drama club and found that acting on stage reduced his stutter. He was eventually elected student council president. He graduated from Penns Grove in 1973.
Upon finishing high school, Willis took a job as a security officer at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant and shuttled crew members to the DuPont Chambers Works facility in Deepwater. He then worked as a private investigator and transitioned into acting, a role he later played in the comedy-drama series Moonlighting and the action comedy film The Last Boy Scout.
Willis enrolled in Montclair State University’s acting program, where he was cast in a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof production. He dropped out of school in 1977 and moved to New York City, where he worked as a bartender at several Manhattan nightclubs in the early 1980s, including Kamikaze, Cafe Central, and Chelsea Central, while living in the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood.
Moonlighting, Die Hard, and Rise to Fame
Willis was selected to portray David Addison Jr. in the TV show Moonlighting (1985–1989), where he competed with 3,000 other actors. His starring role in Moonlighting, opposite Cybill Shepherd, helped establish him as a comedic actor.
During the show’s five seasons, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series. At the height of the show’s success, beverage manufacturer Seagram hired Willis as a salesman for its Golden Wine Cooler products.
The advertising campaign earned Willis between $5 and $7 million over two years. In 1988, Willis decided not to renew his contract when he quit drinking alcohol. In 1987, Willis landed his first starring role in the Blake Edwards film Blind Date alongside Kim Basinger and John Larroquette. Edwards recast him as real-life cowboy actor Tom Mix in Sunset (1988).
That same year, he had an action film role in Die Hard (1988) as John McClane. He performed most of his stunts in the film, which grossed $138,708,852 worldwide. After achieving success with Die Hard, Willis played the role of Vietnam veteran Emmett Smith in the drama In Country. He also lent his voice to a talking baby in the films Look Who’s Talking (1989) and its sequel, Look Who’s Talking Too (1990).
In the late 1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording the pop-blues album The Return of Bruno with the Pointer Sisters, which included the hit single “Respect Yourself”. The LP was promoted by a Spinal Tap-style rockumentary parody, which included scenes of Willis performing at famous events such as Woodstock.
As his second single, he released a version of the Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk.” It reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart but was less successful in the US. Willis visited the recording studio on multiple occasions.
Critical Decline, Health Issues, and Retirement
In the final years of his career, Willis starred in numerous low-budget independent thrillers and science fiction films. He worked primarily with the production companies Emmett/Furla Oasis (which produced 20 films with Willis) and 308 Entertainment Inc.
Most of the films were released direct-to-video and were met with critical acclaim. The Golden Raspberry Awards, an annual award honouring the worst movies and performances of the year, created a special category for “Worst Bruce Willis Performance in a 2021 Film” for Willis’ roles in eight films released this year.
Esquire’s Chris Nashawaty described direct-to-video films as “a lucrative haven” for older actors, similar to The Expendables. Willis often earned $2 million for two work days, with an average running time of 15 minutes per film. Nevertheless, he played a significant role in the film’s promotional materials, earning them the derogatory nickname “Geezer Teaser.”
Those working on the films later said that Willis appeared confused, did not understand why he was there, and had to listen to his lines through an earpiece. Just days before Willis began filming Out of Death (2021), screenwriter Bill Lawrence was instructed to shrink his role and shorten his dialogue. Director Mike Burns was asked to complete all Willis’ scenes in one day.
On March 30, 2022, Willis’ family announced that he would be retiring after being diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder typically caused by damage to the area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. The Golden Raspberry Awards withdrew Willis’ category, believing it inappropriate to give a Razzie to someone whose performance was impaired by illness. At his retirement, Willis had completed eleven films that had yet to be released.
On February 16, 2023, Willis’ family announced that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. According to Gregg Day, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus, symptoms include problems with language and comprehension and misinterpreting instructions.
In a statement, the family said Willis’ condition had worsened and that “difficulty communicating was just a symptom of the disease.” They hoped the media attention to Willis would raise awareness of the disease.
Business Activities
Willis owns homes in Los Angeles and Penns Grove, New Jersey. He also rents apartments in Trump Tower and Riverside South, Manhattan. 2000 Willis and his business partner Arnold Rifkin founded Cheyenne Enterprises, a film production company.
In 2007, after Live Free or Die Hard, he left the company to be run solely by Rifkin. He owns several small businesses in Hailey, Idaho, including The Mint Bar and The Liberty Theatre. He was an early supporter of Planet Hollywood, featuring actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.
Willis and the other actors were paid for their services and support through an employee stock ownership plan.
In 2009, Willis signed a deal to become the international face of Belvedere SA’s Sobieski Vodka in exchange for a 3.3% stake in the company. In 2018, Willis became the Hungarian brand Hell Energy Drink brand ambassador.
Personal Life
Willis’s acting idols include Gary Cooper, Robert De Niro, Steve McQueen, and John Wayne. He is left-handed. He lives with his family in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
On November 21, 1987, Willis tied the knot with Demi Moore at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. On December 20, the couple hosted a second reception for approximately 450 guests on a soundstage at Warner Bros. Studios Burbank.
They have three daughters: Rumer (born 1988), Scout (born 1991), and Tallulah (born 1994). Willis and Moore announced their divorce on June 24, 1998. They filed for divorce on October 18, 2000, and the divorce was finalized the same day.
Willis said of the divorce, “I felt like I was failing as a father and a husband because I couldn’t handle it.” He credited actor Will Smith with helping him cope with the situation. He remained close friends with Moore and her future husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and attended their wedding.
Willis was engaged to actress Brooke Burns until they separated in 2004 after ten months together. On March 21, 2009, he married model Emma Heming in the Turks and Caicos Islands; his three daughters, Moore and Kutcher, were guests.
The ceremony was not legally binding, so the couple remarried six days later in a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills. The couple has two daughters, one born in 2012 and the other in 2014. Read More Obituaries in US.
