Bruce Willis’ most memorable acting roles

Ever since his breakout role on the T.V. series Moonlighting, Bruce Willis has been considered one of the greatest movie stars in Hollywood still almost 40 years later.

Unfortunately, the actor retired in early 2022, due to a diagnosis of Aphasia which progressed into a dementia diagnosis around a year later. However, he is still celebrated today for his wide variety of acting performances. Below, we have rounded up some of Willis’ best movie roles.

‘The Sixth Sense’ (1999)

Willis reinvents himself with this role, a dramatic change from his previous tough guy roles. In ‘The Sixth Sense’ Willis shows a softer side by taking on the role of a child psychologist trying to help a boy with supernatural powers.

The movie’s success hinges on Willis’ incredible performance, and his presence was recognized to enhance child actor Haley Joel Osment’s role. It’s been long considered a great movie with a brilliant twist, largely due to Willis’ acting.

‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)

Pulp Fiction is considered to be one of Quentin Tarantino’s most recognizable films and one of the best action films of the 1990s. Willis takes on one of the three leading roles, Butch. Butch is a boxer who, after accepting a bribe, bets on himself and wins a lot of money.

‘Pulp Fiction’ is packed with violent action scenes and Willis takes on that role seamlessly. In particular fans of the movie praise Willis’ ability to act in a silent scene.

His ability to act without dialogue, only using body language, facial expression, and movement but still portraying his character is what solidifies Willis as being an incredible actor.

According to a podcast interview with Tarantino in 2022, he had originally written the role of Butch for Matt Dillon and wanted Willis to play Vincent, who ended up being played by John Travolta.

“Bruce called his agent and said ‘hey, get me that damn Tarantino script, I want to read it.’ So little did I know, he had already read Pulp Fiction by the time I show up at Harvey’s house that Sunday.” Tarantino explained.

He goes on, “he said, ‘so look, I read your script.’ ‘What Reservoir Dogs?’ He said, ‘no no no, the new one, Pulp Fiction.’ Wow, I mean that blew my mind. And he goes, ‘yeah, so, I want to play Vincent.’”

Tarantino later explains how he asked Willis to reread the script imagining himself as a different character. Eventually, Willis called him back agreeing to play Butch.

‘Die Hard’ (1988)

Perhaps his memorable role, Willis stars as John McClane in the 1988 movie ‘Die Hard.’ Willis takes on the role of a charismatic and persistent New York City police officer attempting to save his wife and several others who have been taken hostage by terrorists.

The film proved Willis to be a movie star and skyrocketed his career and reputation as a strong actor. The film was so well received that Willis went on to act in four more sequels.

At the time of its release, Willis was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times and is quoted saying, “I’m so excited about this film... To me, it represents why I wanted to be an actor.”

Still 35 years after its release, ‘Die Hard’ is considered as redefining the action genre due to Willis’ role and as a seemingly average, vulnerable individual taking on the action hero archetype.