Bruce Willis: 2007 Playboy Interview

Flashing his inimitable smirk and saving hostages from terrorists in an L.A. high-rise, Bruce Willis became a box-office sensation in 1988 playing John McClane, the bloodied yet unstoppable hero of Die Hard, often called one of the best action movies ever made. The pyrotechnics-heavy film and its two sequels—Die Hard 2 (1990) and Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)—have grossed close to a billion dollars. Fans of the original trilogy have waited 12 years for a new installment. Now the wait is over: Live Free or Die Hard opens on June 27. As Willis would say, uttering his famous taunt from the movies, "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker."

Though best known for the Die Hard movies, Willis has an impressive body of work, includingan eclectic list of films such as Armageddon, 12 Monkeys, The Kid, The Jackal, The Fifth Element, Sin City, The Last Boy Scout and Grindhouse. He was unforgettable as Butch, the boxer in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. And unlike most other action heroes, he has taken risks by signing on to play small supporting roles in independent movies like Nobody's Fool, co-starring Paul Newman, last year's Fast Food Nation and this year's Astronaut Farmer. He has also been handsomely remunerated; as one of Hollywood's most highly paid actors, he commands more than $20 million a movie. He reportedly earned more than $60 million in salary and points for his part in the sleeper hit The Sixth Sense.

Willis has frequently appeared in gossip columns, especially when he married another of Hollywood's biggest stars, Demi Moore. The pair had three daughters, Scout, Rumer and Tallulah, before divorcing in 2000. Moore remarried to Ashton Kutcher, star of That '70s Show. Willis attended the wedding, and the three are surprisingly good friends. For his part, Willis has remained single.

He was born in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany on the military base where his father was stationed. His mother worked in a bank. When the elder Willis retired from the armed forces, he moved his family to Penns Grove, New Jersey and was employed as a welder and factory worker.

After graduating from high school (he was class president), Willis moved to New York City to act. He made a living by waiting tables and tending bar and getting bit parts in theater, commercials and television before landing the lead role in Moonlighting opposite Cybill Shepherd and becoming a major name. The series ran for five years in the latter half of the 1980s. In 1988 he set a record for an actor's salary when he was paid $5 million for the first Die Hard movie.

Willis is also known for his partying and his politics. He owns the Mint bar in Hailey, Idaho, the town where he and Moore raised their children. (He has homes in Hailey and Los Angeles.) It was not uncommon to run into him at the bar or on its stage; he performs as frontman and harp player for his band, the Accelerators. He has been an active supporter of a string of Republican presidential candidates including George W. Bush. In addition, he has been one of the few Hollywood celebrities to publicly support the Iraq war. In this interview, however, Willis, 52, for the first time announces that his political views have evolved.

Contributing Editor David Sheff, who conducted last month's interview with Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, met Willis in Los Angeles. "I last interviewed Willis in 1996," Sheff reports. "He was married to Demi Moore and living most of the time in Hailey. Years later Willis seems no less devoted to his children, who are now teenagers, and no less irreverent and fun, yet he has more confidence and maturity. He's still passionate but more thoughtful about politics. He has less hair, however—none, to be exact. His head was freshly shaved."