When Bruce Willis became a television star 40 years ago via ABC's hit comedy "Moonlighting," no one in the entertainment industry thought he was ready to become the next big action movie hero. As the wisecracking private detective David Addison, he seemed primed to be the lead in a romantic comedy in the old-fashioned tone of Cary Grant or, at the very least, a quirky successor to Paul Newman. He didn't, however, give off the vibes of guys like Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger, such as "beefcakes" with guns. So when he trap then unthinkable $5 million payday to star in Die Hard after almost every star in Hollywood passed on the role of John McClane, silliness ensued.

All Willis has done with Die Hard is completely adjust the industry's expectations for action movies. Instead of a muscle-bound killing machine, he was an everyman cop who uses his wits as much as his firearms equipment to take down a group of heavily armed thieves. Moviegoers were addicted to this new approach to action filmmaking, but the industry wanted to replicate the form of Die Hard rather than its humanity. As clones like "Under Siege," "Passenger 57" and "Speed" began to multiply, Willis gamely returned for two sequels to "Die Hard" and, to keep satiated fans craving red meat, sought out gritty and ... funny riffs on McClain's personality. Some of them were great ("The Last Boy Scout"), and some were "Strike Distance".

After all, after a decade plus on bullets, Willis took a break from the genre. What made him temporarily turn his back on the kinds of movies that made him a movie star?

In an interview with the BBC in 2005 in conjunction with the release of Florent Siri's underrated The Hostage, Willis noted that the genre iteration that boosted his career was nothing more than the latest version of stories writers had been spinning since the time of Homer. Per Willis:

"What we now call action movies are nothing more than what they used to call cowboy movies and Native American movies, then they called them gangster movies, then they called them World War II movies and Korean war movies and Vietnam movies and cops - and - Robbers are just stories about good triumphing over evil That's what these movies are and when I did the first Die Hard and Mel Gibson did the first "Lethal Weapon," we both set the template for the modern version of good guys vs. bad guys.

I understand Willis' general point, but I am no sure, say, the Vietnam War movies were about "good triumphing over evil." In any case, what kept him away from films for a period of time? "Over 15-20 years it was done so much ... it just became a bastard," Willis said. "It was Die Hard on a Plane, Die Hard in the White House, Die Hard in the Deli, Die Hard all over the place!" It just made me sick. gun in my hand, "NO!"

While "Hostage" was seen by some as a return to action heroism for Willis, he correctly thought it was more of a psychological thriller. It has shades of Die Hard in that it's mostly set in one location (a house), but has a bit of slyness to go along with the film's graphic violence. Unfortunately, when Hostage proved to be a commercial disappointment, Willis retreated to the safety of the Die Hard franchise and made two wildly inferior sequels. Then came a flood of cheap direct-to-DVD products that were depressingly unworthy of Willis' talents. It is heartbreaking that his health is deteriorating forced him into retirement, but his late career will soon be forgotten, while his many triumphs will be treasured forever.