Sometimes, celebrity connections go much further back than we ever imagined. Who would’ve thought that Harrison Ford once went on tour with the Doors, working as part of the camera crew for a week and a half? Samuel L. Jackson worked as a security guard at the Manhattan Plaza, where Alicia Keys was born, and Patrick Dempsey and Angela Lansbury lived. Everyone has to start somewhere, so of course it makes sense that, before he made it as an actor, Bruce Willis worked behind the scenes at NBC, where he made a connection with Bill Murray.
Bill Murray Shares Origin of His 40-Year Friendship With âGood Guyâ Bruce Willis
“Bruce Willis was a page at NBC when I was on Saturday Night Live,” Bill Murray recalled to Andy Cohen and Naomi Watts on Season 22, Episode 55 of Watch What Happens Live. “He was a page. His job was to come in and refill, it sounds like insane [expletive], his job was to come and go to the dressing rooms and refill the M&Ms and pretzels, kind of thing, in the actors’ rooms.”
As he told them about reencountering Willis years later, he got emotional. “And I remember when I met him after he was already a successful guy, he said, ‘You and Gilda [Radner] were nice to me,’” Murray continued. “And I thought, ‘okay.’ And that’s, you know, I always thought, ‘okay, I’m good with this guy.’ But he is a — he was a good guy.”
Murray Rates Moonrise Kingdom As One of His Favorites
Cohen asked Murray to name four of his collaborations with Wes Anderson, from favorite to least favorite, in the Plead the Fifth portion of the show. While Grand Budapest Hotel came in first, second place went to Moonrise Kingdom. It was apparent that working with Willis greatly impacted Murray’s love of the film. “Moonrise Kingdom was a really beautiful, lovely film, and I got to work with and have a lovely time with Bruce Willis,” Murray said. “Who we should remember today; he just had a birthday. Bruce Willis is a good guy, a good [expletive] guy. And he was a good friend, and always really understood.”
Three years after Moonrise Kingdom, Willis and Murray starred together in Rock the Kasbah. “I think it’s his best movie,” Willis gushed about Murray on the Today Show at the time. “He is terrific in this picture, just crazy. I think people who know him from some of his iconic roles in the past think he is a wild man at all times. And yet, when I’ve been around him, he has a much more serious side.”
It seems clear that Murray’s love and respect for Willis were definitely reciprocated. “He has turns in this that are just unexpected and just crazy funny,” he continued. “Doesn’t push, and my character just can’t stop wanting to hurt people. But he is just great. He cracks me up.”
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