Bruce Willis diagnosed with aphasia, retires from acting. Updated diagnosis frontotemporal dementia*

But IIRC, those were about Willis being a jerk, not about anything reflected in Willis's current diminished cognitive capacity.

"Cop Out" was 12 years ago. As I mentioned above, I'm unaware of indications that Willis's struggles had started that long ago...

 

He has a tiny part in the movie, get it?

 

I guess the joke is that Willis was "expendable" in the movie because he had a small part?

Or that he played such a small role because he was already in mental decline?

 

I was more surprised by the small role Chuck Norris played, and I have trouble remembering his name

 

what are you talking about?

 

I wouldn't have expected him to play Macbeth or King Lear, but he was an incredibly charismatic presence on screen - the sort of person the eye just wants to look at.

What works so wonderfully well in the Die Hard films is that he wasn't 7 ft tall and bulletproof. He was playing an ordinary cop stuck in extraordinary circumstances, who had to do what needed to be done - even though he was scared s**tless. Lines like "If I get out of this I am never going up in a tall building again!" were what made the average viewer empathize with him.

It's what he did. I suspect being an actor is very much like being a musician - it's what you are down to your bones, and it's not like you want to quit if you are still enjoying it.

Sorry to see this happened to anyone, and he was so good in so many films - 12 Monkeys, The Sixth Sense and the aforementioned Die Hard movies. It's been a long time since I've watched it, but I thought he was quite good in Norman Jewison's In Country as well.

 

One of the stories was about Bruce making "liberal" changes with the script. Usually doubling up dialogue from one scene into another.

 

Wow, what a sad story.

My first thought was that Willis was clearly being exploited by his family and agents for the past few years.......but then I wondered how much of this was instigated by Willis himself? Maybe he wanted to bank as much money as he could before it was too late?

 

I thought it was Madonna.

 

For some reason I just remembered this story from last year. I thought it was so odd at the time, but now I wonder if it was related to his condition.

Bruce Willis kicked out of LA Rite Aid after refusing to wear mask as actor storms out of store without making purchase (the-sun.com)

 

It was probably quid-pro-quo. Willis probably knew he had issues and wasn't up to the rigors of a good movie. The cheapo makers could promote their movie with an actor who has worldwide recognition.

I doubt he was taken advantage of. His condition isn't one that--at least when he's still functional enough to act at all--would make him of unfirm mind.

 

I don't know. According to the LA article, sometimes he didn't know why he was on set

From the article:

Doesn't sound like one that is in total control of himself. Hey, of course, it's also possible that the article isn't stating the truth and exaggerating

On a side note, a friend of my parents that now has alzheimer started her descent to the unknown just like that; started wondering where she was. And that happened when she was close to 70 y.o.

Some years later she doesn't even recognize her sons; that's heavy stuff. Hope Bruce doesn't suffer the same fate.

 

Advanced Alzheimers and Aphasia are tragic conditions, horrible for the person who has them and horrible for the people who love them.(Although at a late stage, the sufferer comes to be at peace, it's those who love them that suffer most).

 

I loved Bruces’ early career and really couldn’t keep up with the movies he made in the latter years, so many it seemed one after the other.

Me being a big Sinatra fan find it interesting that Bruces’ first appearance on screen was in a movie starring Sinatra called “The First Deadly Sin” there is a short clip of Bruce with Sinatra on YouTube from this movie. Another interesting fact is that “Die Hard” is actually based on the book “The Detective” with which Sinatra played the lead role in the film of the same name. Apparently Sinatra was originally offered the role of John McClane.

Another fact, apart from Sinatra and Willis both coming from New Jersey, from a biography I read years ago about Bruce Willis was , he carried a signed photo of Sinatra when he moved to Hells Kitchen NYC to try and make the big time.

I so wanted Bruce to write an autobiography.

 

Possible that connects to his conditions, but Willis is also one of Hollywood's handful of strongly right wing actors, so it seems that this was a "statement"...

 

I haven't seen a new Bruce Willis movie in years but I enjoyed a lot of his older movies. I wish he and his family the best.

 

It's just as well.
You wouldn't enjoy the newer ones.

 

Willis could do very well on the FanExpo autograph circuit. Possibly more in a month doing some weekend flyouts than a month shooting some DTV movie.

 

Your statement assumes that Willis has a condition that affects speech and memory but doesn't impact his intelligence or other neurological functions.

And maybe that's true. But, based on the eyewitness reports, I'm not sure if that's the case. I realize that Willis' family is trying to put a positive spin on his situation, but it seems to me that he is suffering from something that is much more than just aphasia.

 

So now that he’s retiring, what is his last non-B movie role? Glass?

 

Cannon star William Conrad reportedly had such bad memory issues towards the end of his career that sheets of paper with his lines were taped to the chests of the other person in a scene.

 

What scares me is the fact that this kind of dementia can overtake you even if you’re as fit as a fiddle and have the best Health care in the world

 

Edward Norton's "Motherless Brooklyn" came out at the end of 2019. Willis had 2nd billing in that.

 

...and Pulp Fiction. He really has that movie magic screen presence. Agree with your entire post.

 

Maybe he will have the time to write one now. He can certainly get someone to assist. Ironically I just read Demi's and it was quite good. Nice she didn't trash Bruce in it.