Happy Birthday to Bruce Willis! The actor was born on March 19, 1955, and today he turns 68. Although he recently retired due to serious health issues, his legacy will always inspire us. With a career spanning over 4 decades, Willis has left a forever mark on the entertainment industry. In honor of his special day, we’ve uncovered some lesser-known facts about him that gave us a peek into the iconic actor’s life.
Bruce Willis and his mother, Marlene, 1995
Walter Bruce Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, a small town in Germany, to a German mother, Marlene, and an American father, David. When he was 2 years old, his family moved to the US where they welcomed the actor’s 3 younger siblings, 2 brothers and a sister.
Until his twenties, Willis struggled with a stutter, and others would often troll him for it. Because of this painful experience, he avoided discussing his childhood in interviews. To cope with this negative challenge, he became the class prankster, trying to fit in.
Willis shared that having a stutter was scary, explaining, “It wasn’t until I took on the role of a character in a play that I lost my babbling. It was phenomenal.” This was all thanks to his drama teacher, who suggested that Willis see a speech therapist, who, through exercises, helped him lose his stammer and build his confidence.
Right after high school, Willis worked as a security guard at a power plant and transported factory workers to and from work. A lesser-known fact is that he also worked as a private investigator, a real-life experience that helped in his breakout roles, like on the TV show, Moonlighting, and in the movie, The Last Boy Scout.
The Die Hard hero took a few strange jobs after graduating high school, trying to save some money. A few years later, he went on to Montclair State College, but he dropped out, moved to New York, and began working on his acting career, appearing in off-Broadway plays and TV commercials.
The actor has partial hearing loss in one ear as a result of an accident that occurred while filming Die Hard. He has shared that he experiences difficulty hearing and sometimes has to ask people to repeat themselves.
Unfortunately, injuries on movie sets are not uncommon. In fact, as far back as 1930, over a period of 5 years, 11,000 people sustained injuries while working on movie sets. However, safety standards have improved significantly since then, and the risk has been greatly reduced.
If you want to celebrate the actor’s birthday by reading more about him, check out our other articles:
Bruce Willis Hangs Up His Acting Hat and All We Can Do Is Thank Him for Everything
Bruce Willis Revealed How Raising 5 Girls Has Taught Him to “Resist the Urge to Speak”
Bruce Willis’ Family Announces He’s Been Diagnosed With Dementia
I want to wish this awesome man a very Happy Birthday and hoping that he has a great day for celebrating it with his family and friends. Bless him and his family and may he be in comfort, happiness, and peace, as long as possible. Strength, courage, and love to him, his family, and friends.
