By Mary Shaffer
and Jerry Bunin
The Tribune

Bruce Willis deserves a Best Actor Oscar nomination for M. Night Shyamalan's "Unbreakable," but he will probably be overlooked again.

Willis' performance as sole survivor of a train wreck rivals his equally subtle yet powerful work in "The Sixth Sense," which earned Oscar nominations for his co-stars and writer-director Shyamalan, who wrote both parts with the 45-year-old Willis in mind.

Last year, Willis wasn't nominated in a category that included winner Kevin Spacey and such major talents as Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Richard Farnsworth and Sean Penn.

When this year's nominations are announced Feb. 13, he will again face strong competition from Crowe, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Geoffrey Rush, Michael Douglas, and Sean Connery.

Willis is the Rodney Dangerfield of film acting: He doesn't get enough respect.

But things are changing.

He earned some of his best reviews last year for three hit films -- as a retired hit man with a heart in "The Whole Nine Yards," an embittered image consultant literally confronting his inner child in "Disney's The Kid," and a melancholy security guard with a troubled marriage who discovers his true potential in "Unbreakable."

Willis was ranked sixth Entertainer of the Year for 2000 by Entertainment Weekly and ninth on its and 39th on Premiere's annual lists of the 100 most powerful people in Hollywood.

He also won a People's Choice Award as favorite movie star in a drama and an Emmy for "Friends," 13 years after earning his first Emmy and a Golden Globe for "Moonlighting," the offbeat and innovative hit series that made Willis a household name.

His movie career started with two forgettable Blake Edwards' comedies.

Then Willis hit a streak of three outstanding performances in 1988-89.

In "Die Hard," his work as relentless, vulnerable, wisecracking, resourceful, down-to-earth cop/husband John McClane made him an international star with fan websites emerging in the United States, Russia, Italy, France and Japan.

Willis told Entertainment Weekly's Benjamin Svetkey, "I was just a kid playing myself … on 'Moonlighting.' And then I spent the next 15 years trying to reinvent myself."

He reinvents himself in Norman Jewison's "In Country," one of the best and least known films about Vietnam. Willis gives a quiet and moving performance as a complex veteran grappling with the effects of the war on him and his Kentucky family almost 20 years later.

That same year, he provided the inner voice of the baby in "Look Who's Talking," a hit comedy that is predictable, but funny and charming thanks to Willis' inspired dialogue and the terrific chemistry between fellow TV graduates John Travolta and Kirstie Alley.

That pattern -- alternating big-budget action, mainstream comedy, and low-budget character roles - has marked Willis' entire career.

Born in West Germany and raised in a large New Jersey working class family, Willis is equally convincing as an empathetic child psychologist seeking redemption ("The Sixth Sense"), a ruthless international assassin ("The Jackal") and an abusive low-life husband ("Mortal Thoughts").

Unlike fellow-action film stars, Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger, Willis has taken supporting roles and less money to work with quality directors and actors in a good story with interesting characters.

In "Nobody's Fool," he holds his own with Oscar winners/nominees Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Melanie Griffith, and director Robert Benton.

With his layered performance, Willis stirs compassion for and leaves the audience wanting to know more about his character, a small-town building contractor who cheats on his pregnant wife (Griffith) and engages in a running feud with Newman, the star of the film.

Willis' journey has produced major some major bombs and dogs like "Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990) and "Hudson Hawk" (1991) and unexpected successes like "12 Monkeys," a complex, absorbing drama about a time-traveling Everyman desperately trying to save humanity and himself.

Director Terry Gilliam took Willis to new acting levels in "12 Monkeys" as a man becoming conscious and accepting his fate. It foreshadowed Willis' work in "Unbreakable" and proved he could be what Svetkey calls "an action hero with acting chops."

It was one of the first times Willis -- the father of three daughters, aged 6-12, with ex-wife Demi Moore -- shared the screen with a child, something the generous, self-assured actor now specializes in.

"12 Monkeys" co-star Brad Pitt had the flashier role and got the Oscar nomination, although his performance needed Willis' subdued work for balance and perspective.

Willis has also taken chances with young filmmakers, like Shyamalan and Quentin Tarantino in "Pulp Fiction." Overshadowed by Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson's pair of charismatic hit men, Willis' tough yet tender washed-up prizefighter is easily the most honorable and sympathetic character in Tarantino's popular, award-winning, groundbreaking film.

"I read a script, and if I like the story, I take a shot on it. Sometimes that has worked to my detriment, and I take responsibility for those" along with those that succeed, Willis told Veronica Mixon in a recent Hollywood.com interview. "I don't want it to be anyone else's responsibility as to what work I choose to do."

Willis will be seen next in Barry Levinson's "Bandits," a romantic robbery comedy/drama co-starring Cate Blanchett and Billy Bob Thornton, giving Hollywood its next shot to show the actor some respect.

• "Moonlighting" (1985-89)
• "Die Hard" Series (1988/1990/1995)
• "In Country" (1989)
• "Look Who's Talking" (1989)
• "Mortal Thoughts" (1991)
• "Nobody's Fool" (1994)
• "Pulp Fiction" (1994)
• "12 Monkeys" (1995)
• "The Jackal" (1997)
• "The Sixth Sense" (1999)
• "Unbreakable" (2000)