# Bruce Willis' looks
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 18, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742 "2013-02-18T22:45:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/1 "2013-02-18T22:45:15Z")
Even back in high school, I remember women going on about how good looking Bruce Willis was. I can see that some men are good looking and I admit that taste can vary. Yet I never quite got what made Bruce Willis good looking and why there seemed to be such a high proportion of women who found him good looking.
Is it chiefly because of his looks or because of the roles he’s played? I can see that the attraction to the kind of man he’s portrayed could get transferred to his looks. Would Bruce Willis be widely considered good looking if he hadn’t played the roles he’s been playing since Die Hard?
If he’s considered good looking less because of his roles and more because of his actual looks, what about his looks are particularly attractive?
Jason Statham seems like the younger Bruce Willis both in appearance and roles. Is he widely considered good looking too?
---
### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/2 "2013-02-18T23:04:56Z")
He’s average in the looks department, and started balding early.
Going back to the Moonlighting days, ladies loved him because he was sassy, more so than because of his physical looks, IMO. He also has a very engaging smile.
Let this be a lesson to you.
---
### Author:  [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/3 "2013-02-18T23:19:01Z")
There’s something about a certain “cuteness” to a man’s chin that seems to be the common denominator in a male celebrity being seen as really attractive. A cleft chin is a dead giveaway – Paul Newman, Huey Lewis, and others. Willis doesn’t seem to have a cleft chin, I seemed to recall he did, but I don’t see it in the 1989 Wikipedia photo – but it does have a “cute” … sort of delineated shape. You can even see it in cartoons – Homer has an ugly broad chin, like Fred Flintstone, Ned Flanders has a cuter chin.
_EDIT_
He seems to have some of a cleft chin in some photos, both younger and older.
---
### Author:  [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/4 "2013-02-19T00:46:12Z")
I always considered Bruce Willis repulsive, and wanted to wipe the smirk off of his face. A lot of us didn’t find him attractive at all.
---
### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/5 "2013-02-19T01:09:01Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#):
>
> I can see that the attraction to the kind of man he’s portrayed could get transferred to his looks. Would Bruce Willis be widely considered good looking if he hadn’t played the roles he’s been playing since Die Hard?
As a woman who once was attracted to Bruce Willis, I came into this thread to say the exact opposite. The guy who appeared in [Moonlighting](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eZP2YYJeqjA/Tne8mOYuuZI/AAAAAAAANWk/5D3Euq6MxbU/s1600/Moonlighting+1987.jpg) was adorable: smoldering and seductive, but still sweet and approachable. It didn’t hurt that his character was incredibly sexy. It’s basically been all downhill since, as he got older and his look got harder and less vulnerable. Looking at his IMDB listing, it looks like I haven’t seen him in a movie for over 20 years, since just after Moonlighting (somehow I feel like I see him all the time, though).
---
### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/6 "2013-02-19T01:33:10Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#):
>
> The guy who appeared in [Moonlighting](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eZP2YYJeqjA/Tne8mOYuuZI/AAAAAAAANWk/5D3Euq6MxbU/s1600/Moonlighting+1987.jpg) was adorable: smoldering and seductive, but still sweet and approachable.
He had to turn to “badass” movie roles because he lost all of his “smoldering and seductive” with the Seagrams Wine Coolers commercials. The guy in those T.V. commercials was _so_ not sexy.
I happen to enjoy him as an action star, but for you the only film from the post 20 years that I would recommend would be _Moonrise Kingdom_.
---
### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/7 "2013-02-19T01:45:01Z")
Incidentally, searching Bruce Willis in the “Name” field on imdb gives [150 Results- because, gee, what Bruce Willis could you possibly be searching for?](http://www.imdb.com/find?q=bruce+willis&s=nm)
If they at least limited the results to people named Bruce Willis or slight variations like maybe “Bryce Wallis” I could understand, but does imdb really think I might have been looking for “Flossie Price (Costume Department, [Chromiumblue.com](http://Chromiumblue.com) (2003))” or maybe “Alicia Pérez (III) (Miscellaneous, Adictos (2004))” possibly “Julius Boros (Self, The Caddy (1953))”???
---
### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/8 "2013-02-19T02:01:22Z")
I think he’s hot and yes, I think Jason Statham is hot too. I like the buff bald look.
---
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/9 "2013-02-19T02:16:35Z")
I think Bruce Willis is actually getting better looking as he gets older - I never thought he was attractive back in the Moonlighting days. I think “Die Hard” might have been the watershed moment, so maybe it is all about the tough guys roles he plays.
---
### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/10 "2013-02-19T03:16:26Z")
> [@Poysyn](#):
>
> I think he’s hot and yes, I think Jason Statham is hot too. I like the buff bald look.
Yeah, I too was surprised to see the Jason Statham reference in the OP. For whatever one’s personal tastes are, I think it’s pretty well established that Jason Staham is popularly considered to be attractive.
---
### Author:  [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/11 "2013-02-19T03:19:52Z")
> [@bienville](#):
>
> Yeah, I too was surprised to see the Jason Statham reference in the OP. For whatever one’s personal tastes are, I think it’s pretty well established that Jason Staham is popularly considered to be attractive.
Same here.
I think Willis is ok, but he’s getting harder-edged as he gets older. I DO think he’s attractive, but he’s not as cute as he was.
Statham is just about perfect for me.
---
### Author:  [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/12 "2013-02-19T03:58:28Z")
Thought he was starting to show his age a bit in Looper. But he is almost 60 years old. If I ever make it to 60, I’ll be happy just to be ambulatory (ambulant?). Never mind a still fairly popular action star.
---
### Author:  [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/13 "2013-02-19T14:53:07Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#):
>
> Even back in high school, I remember women going on about how good looking Bruce Willis was. I can see that some men are good looking and I admit that taste can vary. Yet I never quite got what made Bruce Willis good looking and why there seemed to be such a high proportion of women who found him good looking.
>
> Is it chiefly because of his looks or because of the roles he’s played? I can see that the attraction to the kind of man he’s portrayed could get transferred to his looks. Would Bruce Willis be widely considered good looking if he hadn’t played the roles he’s been playing since Die Hard?
>
> If he’s considered good looking less because of his roles and more because of his actual looks, what about his looks are particularly attractive?
>
> Jason Statham seems like the younger Bruce Willis both in appearance and roles. Is he widely considered good looking too?
Yes, I know lots of women who think Jason Statham is sexy and good looking.
Fact of life… confidence is sexy.
---
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/14 "2013-02-19T14:58:31Z")
> [@Tapiotar](#):
>
> I always considered Bruce Willis repulsive, and wanted to wipe the smirk off of his face. A lot of us didn’t find him attractive at all.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
---
### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/15 "2013-02-19T15:14:00Z")
He turned down the Patrick Swayze part in _Ghost_, which was the correct call. He never could have pulled off the vulnerability that Swayze could project.
Teenage me lusted after him in _Moonlighting_, mainly because of the dynamic he and Shepherd created. There’s nothing more enticing than a man you can’t quite have. Plus that sass factor. You don’t want a man who bores you. All of which is to say, pure looks are everything when it comes to attractiveness.
Unless you’re Jon Hamm, of course.
---
### Author:  [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/16 "2013-02-19T15:17:57Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#):
>
> He turned down the Patrick Swayze part in _Ghost_, which was the correct call. He never could have pulled off the vulnerability that Swayze could project.
I never knew that, but I disagree. I think he’s a more versatile actor than people give him credit for. Watch him in roles like **12 Monkeys** and **The Sixth Sense** and he definitely projects a softer side.
---
### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/17 "2013-02-19T15:36:41Z")
I don’t disagree that he’s a very capable actor and I’ve seen him in both of those. But he does confident so well. Swayze pulls off naked vulnerability much better.
I heard his comments about _Ghost_ on _Inside the Actor’s Studio_, I believe. He seemed to regret not taking the role, noting that Demi saw something in the movie that he didn’t see. It probably would have been distracting for them to have played opposite one another, though.
---
### Author:  [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/18 "2013-02-19T15:40:11Z")
It’s his swagger. His swagger and smirk. . . his confidence and good humor.
And he’s not bad looking.
---
### Author:  [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/19 "2013-02-19T16:19:34Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#):
>
> I don’t disagree that he’s a very capable actor and I’ve seen him in both of those. But he does confident so well. Swayze pulls off naked vulnerability much better.
>
> I heard his comments about _Ghost_ on _Inside the Actor’s Studio_, I believe. He seemed to regret not taking the role, noting that Demi saw something in the movie that he didn’t see. It probably would have been distracting for them to have played opposite one another, though.
Its kind of hard to judge in hindsight because Swayze nailed that role, but to think at the time, I wouldn’t have said Swayze could have pulled off vulnerable that well. He was just coming off Roadhouse. I don’t know what his character was like in Dirty Dancing, (Never saw it) so maybe he showed something there. Willis (post Ghost) has shown the capability to play non-alpha types well, but I agree he pretty much is the prototypical action hero in most things.
So it would have different, but I can’t say if Willis would have stunk up the joint or not.
---
### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742/20 "2013-02-19T16:25:16Z")
When a very hard-faced man smiles a boyish, lighthearted smile, it is attractive. Therein lies the appeal of Willis to me, though he is not the best-looking man around by any means.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-willis-looks/650742.md?page=2)