Don Johnson reflects on giving best friend Bruce Willis his big acting break
"Doctor Odyssey" star Don Johnson is opening up about the decadeslong friendship he's had with Bruce Willis and how that friendship led to Willis' first big break as an actor.
Johnson recently appeared in an episode of "Doctor Odyssey" alongside guest star Rumer Willis, the eldest of Bruce Willis' five daughters and someone Johnson said he has known her entire life.
The full-circle moment led Johnson to reflect on how he was there when Bruce Willis' acting career got started.
Johnson said Monday on "Good Morning America" that he first met Bruce Willis when the "Die Hard" actor was a bartender at a restaurant in New York City.
"I'd go in there and sit with Bruce ... Bruce was such a good storyteller, and he'd tell me about all the trials and tribulations of dealing with the drunks and the actors ... and, you know, I got to be friendly with him," Johnson recalled. "I said, 'You know what? You'd be awesome.'"
Johnson said he called the casting director for "Miami Vice" -- the 1980s TV series in which he starred -- and convinced her to let Bruce Willis come in and read.
"I said, 'No, this guy is interesting. He's special. Bring him in and read him,' and she did," he said of his conversation with the casting director. "We cast him in 'Miami Vice' before he was ever in anything else."
Johnson said he knew from the beginning that Bruce Willis was special, saying, "I could just tell."
Bruce Willis would go on to become a major movie star, landing leading roles in iconic films including "Die Hard," "Pulp Fiction," "Armageddon" and more.
Bruce Willis, now 69, was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022 and retired from acting that same year. In 2023, he received an additional diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, a common type of dementia marked by personality and behavior changes as well as problems with language skills, such as speaking or understanding words, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The actor shares Rumer Willis, as well as daughters Tallulah Willis and Scout LaRue Willis, with ex Demi Moore. He also shares two younger daughters, Evelyn and Mabel, with wife Emma Heming Willis.
