Bruce Willis: The Unauthorized Biography [Abridged] [Hardcover]

John Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

This is the first biography of Bruce Willis, one of the most bankable Hollywood stars who currently commands $17-20 million per film. From his first taste of success in his TV role in 'Moonlighting', the book traces his career through the much publicised period of drug and alcohol abuse, and a number of box-office flops in the early 1990's which so often spell the end of a film career. Pulp Fiction is treated as the resurrection of his film career, aquiring cult status and re-emerging as a top player who now consistently attracts rave reviews and huge audiences. The book also deals with his off screen high-profile marriage to Demi Moore, looking at Bruce the filmstar and Bruce the family man. The author has spoken to their friends and relatives and people they have worked with to attempt to reveal the real Bruce Willis.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Virgin Pub; abridged edition edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852276525
• ISBN-13: 978-1852276522
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,443,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent detail of Bruce Willis' life, July 25, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bruce Willis: The Unauthorized Biography (Mass Market Paperback)

John Parker gives great detail of Bruce Willis' life and his career. The book delivers information that not many people know about Bruce Willis. Bruce Willis has so far had an excellent career and you learn about this in this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is informational., September 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bruce Willis: The Unauthorized Biography (Hardcover)

If you're interested in all the details of how Bruce Willis accomplished his incredible career, "Bruce Willis: The Unauthorized Biography" is an excellent book to purchase. The book fills in all the details of stories heard in the tabloids and the truth behind them! You don't have to be a Bruce Willis fan to enjoy the book. The book sheds light on different areas of the movie industry and people involved. There is one thing that's for sure and that is "Die Hard" would not have been the same if Clint Eastwood would have played the part of John McClane.

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Poorly Researched & Written, February 18, 2010

By 

JGC - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bruce Willis: The Unauthorized Biography (Mass Market Paperback)

I was very eager to read this book, "Bruce Willis: The Unauthorized Biography" by John Parker as I am a big Bruce Willis fan and wish to learn all I can about this fascinating and talented actor. However this book did not tell me anything that I did not already know. Instead, it just rehashed the plots of his movies and TV appearances and included slapjack commentary by the author.

The book is a total of 250 pages long and was published in 1997 (the actual "story" only goes up to the summer of '96 though) and this was published in the UK by Virgin Books. There aren't any in-depth or exclusive interviews nor did the author do any prior research.

The only thing I like about the book is the cover, a nice pic of Bruce.

I get the feeling that Mr. Parker relied mostly on "news reports" (i.e. 20 year-old magazine articles) to piece this book together which just came off as sloppy and shoddy because there were numerous inaccuracies and grammatical errors. And he even got the plots of some of Bruce's most well-known movies wrong which makes me question Mr. Parker's motives in writing this foolishness.

The book also takes a ton of dips and discuses the movie plots of Demi Moore as well as the movies and careers of several other Hollywood actors (past, present and current). What does this have to do with Bruce Willis's biography? Not a thing!!! It should not have found a home in Bruce's book, yet I suppose journalistic integrity has very little to do with making a quick buck.

The author also writes about Bruce Willis's hometown in NJ as if it were some flyover Midwestern state that no one has ever heard of. Again, no references to back up these claims were provided because not a lick of research was conducted.

The pictures provided (a few black and white ones) go perfectly with the text: boring, old, low-quality and incredibly unoriginal. There are even pictures of Demi Moore (again, what does this have to do with Bruce Willis's biography??) thrown in, no doubt for pointless filler.

The sad thing is, "Bruce Willis: The Unauthorized Biography" is the only Bruce Willis biography to date. Perhaps the author knew this and simply did not wish to put any extra effort into this project. Shame on him for such a lazy and lackluster job. Bruce deserves better. One day I hope there will be a comprehensive book about him (he sure deserves it), but in the meantime stay away from this one as it's was a huge waste.