Trivia: Born Walter Willis -- an Army brat to parents stationed in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany -- on March 19, 1955, Bruce Willis grew up in New Jersey from the age of two. As a youngster, he developed a stutter that posed the threat of social alienation, but he discovered an odd quirk: while performing in front of large numbers of people, the handicap inexplicably vanished. This led Willis into a certified niche as a comedian and budding actor. After high-school graduation, 18-year-old Willis decided to land a blue-collar job in the vein of his father, and accepted a position at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deep Water, NJ, but withdrew, shaken, after a co-worker was killed on the job. He performed regularly on the harmonica in a blues ensemble called the Loose Goose and worked temporarily as a security guard before enrolling in the drama program at Montclair State University in New Jersey. A collegiate role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof brought Willis back in touch with his love of acting, and he instantly decided to devote his life to the profession.Willis made his first professional appearances on film with minor roles in projects like The First Deadly Sin, starring Frank Sinatra, and Sidney Lumet's The Verdict. But his big break came when he attended a casting call (along with 3000 other hopefuls) for the leading role on Moonlighting, an ABC detective comedy series. Sensing Willis' innate appeal, producers cast him opposite the luminous Cybill Shepherd. The series, which debuted in 1985, followed the story of two private investigators working for a struggling detective agency, with Willis playing the fast-talking ne'er-do-well David Addison, and Shepherd playing the prim former fashion model Maddie Hayes. The show's heavy use of clever dialogue, romantic tension, and screwball comedy proved a massive hit with audiences, and Willis became a major star. The show ultimately lasted four years and wrapped on May 14, 1989. During the first year or two of the series, Willis and Shepherd enjoyed a brief offscreen romantic involvement as well, but Willis soon met and fell in love with actress Demi Moore, who became his wife in 1987.In the interim, Willis segued into features, playing geeky Walter Davis in the madcap 1987 comedy Blind Date. That same year, Motown Records -- perhaps made aware of Willis' experiences as a musician -- invited the star to record an LP of blue-eyed soul tracks. The Return of Bruno emerged and became a moderate hit among baby boomers, although as the years passed it became better remembered as an excuse for Willis to wear sunglasses indoors and sing into pool cues.Then in 1988, Willis broke major barriers when he convinced studios to cast him in the leading role of John McClane in John McTiernan's explosive action movie Die Hard. Though up until this point, action stars had been massive tough guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, execs took a chance on Willis' every-guy approach to the genre - and the gamble paid off. Playing a working-class cop who confronts an entire skyscraper full of terrorists when his estranged wife is taken hostage on Christmas Eve, Willis' used his wiseacre television persona to constantly undercut the film's somber underpinnings, without ever once damaging the suspenseful core of the material. This, coupled with a smart script and wall-to-wall sequences of spectacular action, propelled Die Hard to number one at the box office during the summer of 1988, and made Willis a full-fledged movie star.Willis subsequent projects would include two successful Die Hard sequels, as well as other roles the 1989 Norman Jewison drama In Country, and the 1989 hit comedy Look Who's Talking, in which Willis voiced baby Mikey. Though he'd engage in a few stinkers, like the unsuccessful Hudson Hawk and North, he would also continue to strike told with hugely popular movies like The Last Boyscout , Pulp Fiction, and Armageddon.Willis landed one of his biggest hits, however, when he signed on to work with writer/director M. Night Shyamalan in the supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense. In that film, Willis played Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist assigned to treat a young boy (Haley Joel Osment) plagued by visions of ghosts. The picture packs a wallop in its final minutes, with a now-infamous surprise that even purportedly caught Hollywood insiders off guard when it hit U.S. cinemas in the summer of 1999. Around the same time, tabloids began to swarm with gossip of a breakup between Willis and Demi Moore, who indeed filed for divorce and finalized it in the fall of 2000.Willis and M. Night Shyamalan teamed up again in 2000 for Unbreakable, another dark fantasy about a man who suddenly discovers that he has been imbued with superhero powers and meets his polar opposite, a psychotic, fragile-bodied black man (Samuel L. Jackson). The movie divided critics but drew hefty grosses when it premiered on November 22, 2000. That same year, Willis delighted audiences with a neat comic turn as hitman Jimmy the Tulip in The Whole Nine Yards, which light heartedly parodied his own tough-guy image. Willis followed it up four years later with a sequel, The Whole Ten Yards.In 2005, Willis was ideally cast as beaten-down cop Hartigan in Robert Rodriguez's graphic-novel adaptation Sin City. The movie was a massive success, and Willis was happy to reteam with Rodriguez again the next year for a role in the zombie action flick Planet Terror, Rodriguez's contribution to the double feature Grindhouse. Additionally, Willis would keep busy over the next few years with roles in films like Richard Donner's 16 Blocks, Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation, and Nick Cassavetes' crime drama Alpha Dog. The next year, Willis reprised his role as everyman superhero John McClane for a fourth installment of the Die Hard series, Live Free or Die Hard, directed by Len Wiseman. Though hardcore fans of the franchise were not overly impressed, the film did expectedly well at the box office.In the latter part of the decade, Willis would keep up his action star status, starring in the sci-fi thriller Surrogates in 2009, but also enjoyed poking fun at his own persona, with tongue-in-cheek roles in action fare like The Expendables, Cop Out, and Red. He appeared as part of the ensemble in Wes Anderson's quirky Moonrise Kingdom and in the time-travel action thriller Looper in 2012, before appearing in a string of sequels -- The Expendables 2 (2012), A Good Day to Die Hard, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Red 2 (all 2013) and Sin City: A Dame to Die For (2014).

Trivia: Like his older brother, Keenan Ivory Wayans, African-American performer Damon Wayans matriculated from standup comedy to series television to movies. He was a regular on TV's Saturday Night Live and -- along with virtually everyone else in the Wayans family -- In Living Color. Exhibiting a fondness for the outrageous, Wayans attracted both adulation and condemnation for his many In Living Color characterizations, notably the dour Homey the Clown and the excessively effeminate co-host of the "Men on Film" skits. Damon's first film was 1984's Beverly Hills Cop 2; he has since functioned as co-star (with brother Marlon Wayans), co-producer, co-writer, and director of Mo' Money (1992), and has been heard but not seen as the voice of a troublesome baby in Look Who's Talking 2 (1992). In 1995, Damon Wayans played a role once essayed by Charlton Heston, in Major Payne, a remake of Heston's The Private War of Major Benson (1955).

Trivia: Lead actress Chelsea Field first appeared onscreen in the late '80s.

Trivia: Formerly a schoolteacher, Texas-born Noble Willingham has been essaying crusty character roles since 1969. Willingham's resumé includes a brace of location-filmed Peter Bogdanovich films, The Last Picture Show (1971) and Paper Moon (1973), and the role of Clay Stone in both of Billy Crystal's City Slickers comedies. Among his TV-movie credits is the part of President James Knox Polk in 1985's Dream West. A regular on several TV series (The Ann Jillian Show, Texas Wheelers, Cutter to Houston, AfterMASH, When the Whistle Blows), Willingham is best known to 1990s viewers as Mr. Binford (of Binford Tools) in Home Improvement and C. D. Parker in Walker, Texas Ranger. Noble Willingham's most recent film assignments include Ace Ventura, Pet Detective (1994) Up Close and Personal (1996) and Space Jam (1996). In 2000, Willingham left Walker, Texas Ranger to run for Congress in Texas. After losing the election to his Democratic opponent, Max Sandlin, Willingham returned to acting with a supporting role in the Val Kilmer thriller Blind Horizon. Sadly, the part would be the actor's last. In early 2004, at the age of 72, Willingham passed away at home from natural causes.

Trivia: Actress Danielle Harris spent much of her childhood playing small supporting roles on television and in feature films. She made her feature film debut portraying Jamie Lloyd, the confused niece of slasher Michael Myers in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) and its follow-up Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989). She has also appeared in films such as Free Willy (1993), City Slickers (1991), and Daylight (1996). Harris' television credits include appearances on Growing Pains, One Life to Live, and a regular role on Roseanne. She also appeared in the made-for-television movies Don't Touch My Daughter and The Women Who Loved Elvis.

Trivia: A woman whose combination of talent, tenacity, and beauty has made her one of Hollywood's busiest actors, Halle Berry has enjoyed a level of success that has come from years of hard work and her share of career pitfalls. Berry's interest in show business came courtesy of her participation in a number of beauty pageants throughout her teens, including the 1986 Miss U.S.A. Pageant. A native of Cleveland, OH, where she was born to an African-American father and white mother on August 14, 1968, Berry was raised by her mother, a psychiatric nurse, following her parents' divorce. At the age of 17, she appeared in the spotlight for the first time as the winner of the Miss Teen All-American Pageant, and subsequently became a model. Berry won her first professional acting gig on the TV series Living Dolls, and then appeared on Knots Landing before winning her first big-screen role in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever. It was on the set of the film that she first earned her reputation for her full commitment to acting, reportedly refusing to bathe for weeks in preparation for her portrayal of a crack addict.Following her film debut, Berry was cast opposite Eddie Murphy in Boomerang (1992) as the comedian's love interest; not only did she hold her own against Murphy, but the same year she did acclaimed work in the title role of the Alex Haley miniseries Queen, playing a young woman struggling against the brutal conditions of slavery.After a comedic turn as sultry secretary Sharon Stone in the 1994 live-action version of The Flintstones, Berry returned to more serious fare with her role in the adoption drama Losing Isaiah (1995). Starring opposite Jessica Lange as a former crack addict battling to win custody of her child, who as a baby was adopted by an affluent white couple, Berry earned a mixed reception from critics, some of whom noted that her scenes with Lange highlighted Berry's own shortcomings.However, critical opinion of the actress' work was overwhelmingly favorable in 1998, when she starred as a street smart young woman who comes to the aid of a bumbling politician in Warren Beatty's Bullworth. The following year, Berry won even greater acclaim -- and an Emmy and Golden Globe -- for her turn as tragic screen siren Dorothy Dandridge in the made-for-cable Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Unfortunately, any acclaim Berry enjoyed was overshadowed by her widely publicized brush with the law in February of 2000, when she allegedly ran a red light, slammed into another car, and then left the scene of the accident. The actress, who suffered a gash to her forehead (the driver of the other car sustained a broken wrist), was booked in a misdemeanor court in early April of that year.Fortunately for Berry, her subsequent onscreen work removed the spotlight from her legal troubles; that same year, she starred as Storm in Bryan Singer's hugely successful adaptation of The X-Men. The film was a box office hit, but her next popcorn flick, the thriller Swordfish, which touted itself as the first movie to feature Berry baring her breasts, had a less impressive reception.Berry again bared more than her character's inner turmoil in Monster's Ball (2001), a romantic drama directed by Marc Forster that starred the actress as a woman who becomes involved with an ex-prison-guard (Billy Bob Thornton) who oversaw the prison execution of her husband (Sean Combs). Berry earned wide critical praise for her work in the film, as well as Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Actress. And though she may have lost out to Sissy Spacek in the Golden Globes, her night at the Oscars found Berry the favored performer as took home a statue for Best Actress. A momentous footnote in Academy Award history, Berry's win marked the first time an African American had been bestowed that particular honor.Although her turn in the James Bond flick Die Another Day was so successful that talk began of a spin-off film, Berry's first true post-Oscar vehicle Gothika proved to be unpopular with both critics and moviegoers. Luckily, 2003 wasn't a total loss for her though as X2: X-Men United was a box-office smash and was regarded by many to be superior to its predecessor. Sticking with comic-books as source-material, Berry could be seen in Catwoman the following Summer. The film was the biggest flop of her career, panned by audiences and critics, and earning the actress a coveted Razzie for her terrible performance. She won back a great deal of respect, however, by starring in the made for TV adaptation of the Zora Neale Hurston novel Their Eyes Were Watching God the next year. She followed this moving performance with a return to her X-Men comrades for X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, then signed on to star alongside a decidedly creepy Bruce Willis in the suspense thriller Perfect Stranger (2007), directed by James Foley.As the 2010's unfolded, Berry continued to enjoy top-tier status as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, taking on roles in films like Things We Lost in the Fire, Dark Tide, Cloud Atlas, and The Call. In 2014, she reprised her role of Storm yet again in X-Men: Days of Future Past and took the lead role in her own TV series, Extant, which lasted for two seasons.

Trivia: Husky American actor Bruce McGill made his film debut in Citizen's Band (1978), but it was his next film role, frat-brat "D Day" in National Lampoon's Animal House, that gained him a following. McGill repeated his D-Day characterization in the spin-off TV series Delta House (1979), then co-starred with David Hasselhoff in the 1980 weekly-TV version of the 1977 theatrical football comedy Semi-Tough. He went on to play a string of brusque authority types in films (Cliffhangers) and television (MacGiver, Live Shot). Fans of the fantasy series Quantum Leap (1989-93) may recall McGill's occasional guest shots, which ranged from mildly eccentric to truly weird. In 1987, Bruce McGill enjoyed one of his few feature-film leading roles in Waiting for the Moon. But it wasn't until the 1990s that casting directors really began to utilize McGill's unique range, and though he never won any awards, he shifted between film (A Perfect World, Timecop, The Insider) and television (Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager) with the skill of a seasoned pro. Any genre was fair game, and all were tackled with equal aplomb. At the dawn of the 2000s McGill seemed to shift his focus toward feature films, with roles in Ali, The Sum of All Fears, and Collateral helping to make him both a Michael Mann regular, and one of those welcomed faces that seems to turn up everywhere. Still TV just seemed to be in McGill's blood and after lending his voice to both Family Guy and The Cleveland Show he could be seen as a regular on the TNT detective series Rizzoli and Isles.

Trivia: Canadian actor Kim Coates honed his craft on-stage in a number of theaters in his native country. Eventually he made his way to television on episodes of Miami Vice and Night Heat, among other shows. His feature credits include The Last Boy Scout, The Client, and Kevin Costner's infamous Waterworld. He appeared in the Oscar-wining Western Unforgiven as well as re-teaming with Costner on his underrated oater Open Range. Continuing to bounce steadily between work on the big and small screens, Coates scored a recurring part on the thriller series Prison Break. In 2008 he was cast in the hit FX cable drama Sons of Anarchy, and in 2011 he had a memorable supporting turn as a hockey coach in the sports comedy Goon.

Trivia: Lettered in baseball, basketball and football in high school. First stage role was in college, playing the lead role in King Lear. Served four years in the Air Force after college, including a stint in Vietnam in 1967-68. Was a radio disc jockey in Texas. Made his film debut in 1976's Keep My Grave Open. Appeared in legendary sports movies Hoosiers (1986), Major League (1989) and Rudy (1993). Character name in both Basic Instinct and The Sopranos was Capt. Talcott.

Trivia: When asked why he decided upon becoming an actor, Joe Santos tended to trot out the tried-and-true rationale "because I failed at everything else." While attending Fordham University, Santos excelled at football, but lost interest in the sport after a few semi-pro years. By the time he was 30, Santos had been remarkably unsuccessful in a variety of vocations, including railroad worker, tree cutter, automobile importer and tavern owner. While working a construction job in New York, Santos was invited by a friend to sit in on an acting class. This seemed like an easy way to make a living, so Santos began making the audition rounds, almost immediately landing a good part on a TV soap opera. This gig unfortunately led nowhere, and for the next year or so Santos drove a cab for 10 to 11 hours a day. The novice actor's first big break was a part in the 1971 film Panic in Needle Park, which he received at the recommendation of the film's star (and Santos' frequent softball partner) Al Pacino. With the plum part of Sergeant Cruz in the four-part TV drama The Blue Knight (1973), Santos inaugurated a fruitful, still-thriving career in "cop" roles, the best and longest-lasting of which was detective Dennis Becker on the James Garner series The Rockford Files (1974-80). Joe Santos' other series-TV credits include the top-billed part of deadbeat dad Norman Davis in Me and Maxx (1980), Hispanic nightclub comic Paul Rodriguez' disapproving father in AKA Pablo (1984), and Lieutenant Frank Harper in the 1985-86 episodes of Hardcastle and McCormick. One of his final roles was a recurring gig on The Sopranos. Santos died in 2016, at age 84.

Trivia: An actor of imposing stature, Tony Longo has played many roles that utilized his substantial frame. Born in New Jersey, Longo began his acting career by making appearances on TV shows like Laverne & Shirley and CHiPS, a plan that would prove extremely fruitful as the actor would wrack up countless such appearances over the coming decades. Additionally, Longo extended his efforts toward movies, as well, playing roles in films like The Cooler and The Violent Kind.

Trivia: Supporting actor Clarence Felder first appeared onscreen in the '70s.

Trivia: One half of the popular soul duo the Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley met his singing partner Bobby Hatfield at California State University. By 1962, the pair had released their first single, "Little Latin Lupe Lu." They followed this with a chain of hits over the coming years, including "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," "Soul Inspiration," and "Unchained Melody." After the group broke up in 1968, Medley went on to cultivate a solo career, scoring a number of hits including the 1987 duet with Jennifer Warnes "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dirty Dancing. He also co-wrote the themes for TV shows like Growing Pains and Just the Ten of Us.

Trivia: Worked early in his career for a radio station in Austin owned by Lady Bird Johnson, wife of Lyndon Johnson. Was the radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys from 1972 to 1984. Has worked for ABC, CBS and TNT, calling sports including college basketball and football; NBA; NFL; golf and figure skating. Won seven consecutive Texas Sportscaster of the Year Awards, starting in 1977. Appeared in the 1996 movie Happy Gilmore. Was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 2007. Serves on the board of directors for a summer chamber-music festival in Colorado. Is a friend of Ray Benson of the country-swing band Asleep at the Wheel. Told statesman.com that golf is a tough sport to call, as it "will expose you if you don't know what you're talking about." One of his most memorable calls came while covering that sport, on the occasion of a remarkable Jack Nicklaus Masters' birdie: "Maybe...yes sir!"

Trivia: Twice named All-American during his football-playing days at the University of Illinois, Dick Butkus went on to spend eight years (1965-1973) as linebacker for the Chicago Bears. Chosen best NFL defensive player on two separate occasions, the "Maestro of Mayhem" also held the record for second-highest number of recovered fumbles. The 6'3," 245-pound Butkus left pro football after a knee injury in 1973 but kept his hand in as a sportscaster, eventually with Chicago's WGN radio. He was appointed to the Football Hall of Fame in 1979, and an award for outstanding college linebacker has been named in his honor. With all this going for him, Butkus hardly needed movies and television to enhance his reputation, but he has appeared before the cameras on occasion. On TV, he was seen as Al Fanducci in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, Brom Bones in the 1980 adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, security guard Kurt in the weekly adventure series Half-Nelson (1985), and Ed Klawicki during the 1987-1988 and 1988-1989 seasons of the popular sitcom My Two Dads. Most often, however, Dick Butkus has simply and satisfactorily played "himself," first in the award-winning TV movie Brian's Song (1970), and later in such films as Gremlins 2 (1991) and The Last Boy Scout (1993).

Trivia: American actress Lynn Swann has spent most of her career on-stage and in improvisational comedy, but she has also appeared on television and in a few feature films.

Trivia: Morris Chestnut's career makes a case for the argument that for the bulk of the '90s, there simply were not enough good roles for talented African-American actors. After making an impressive debut as Ricky in John Singleton's Boyz 'N the Hood, Chestnut spent several years wallowing in television, appearing in made-for-TV movies and doomed series. Chestnut, born in Cerrios, CA, on New Years Day 1969, majored in drama and finance at California State University. Little is known about his personal life. Chestnut admitted in a 2001 interview with Essence.com that he doesn't enjoy giving interviews or discussing his private life, but then let it slip that he is married.Chestnut's first professional acting role was in Boyz 'N the Hood in 1991. He followed that up with roles in various TV movies, as well as a part on Patti LaBelle's short-lived sitcom Out All Night. Chestnut continued to steadily, but he often had only bit parts in throwaway, big-budget films, like 1995's Under Siege 2 or 1997's G.I. Jane. But as the decade ended, movies about young, professional African-Americans and their problems with family and relationships began to fill the cineplexes, creating roles for Chestnut and all the other talented black actors stuck in minor TV and film roles. In 1999, Chestnut starred in The Best Man with Taye Diggs and Nia Long, playing a professional athlete who doesn't know that his soon-to-be wife dallied with his best man -- who is about to release those details in his first novel, a Roman à clef about their time in college. The Best Man earned pretty good reviews, did well at the box office, and even earned Chestnut a NAACP Image Award nomination for his performance. He followed it up with The Brothers, another film centering on the themes of fidelity and success among urban professionals. Chestnut joined Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for a supporting role in The Game Plan (2007), a family-oriented sports comedy, and became known for his portrayal of Ryan Nicholas on V, a sci-fi television drama from ABC.

Trivia: A popular comic turned actor who started his career on-stage as a dare, funnyman Eddie Griffin's memorable supporting roles in such films as Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo have built the comedian an ever-growing fan base and a path to his first starring role in 2002's Undercover Brother. Born in Kansas City, MO, Griffin's career began when he accepted a dare to take the stage on amateur night at a local comedy club. Soon developing a personal style reminiscent of such classic comics as Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx, Griffin gained further exposure opening for comic Andrew Dice Clay on a 22-city tour and later in a series of impromptu performances at Los Angeles' popular Comic Store. Quickly following with performances on HBO's Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam and a Cable Ace Award-nominated special, Griffin began branching out into acting. Roles in such films as The Last Boy Scout (1991), Coneheads (1993), and Jason's Lyric (1994) soon led to a sitcom (Malcom and Eddie) in 1996, and Griffin's film appearances became more frequent. After headlining 2001's Double Take alongside Orlando Jones, Griffin seemed poised for leading-man status, and with his role as Anton Jackson in 2002's Undercover Brother, it seemed as if Griffin had conquered not only the stage, but the silver screen as well. In addition to his comedic skills, Griffin is also a gifted dancer and choreographer. Griffin joined the cast of Scary Movie 3 the following year, and continued to perform as a stand-up comedian throughout the early 2000s. In 2005 he starred in the comedy The Wendell Baker Story alongside Luke Wilson, Andrew, and Owen Wilson, and appeared in a series of ultimately forgettable films over the course of the decade (Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Date Movie, and Norbit among them), but continues to remain popular as a stand-up comedian.

Trivia: Actor, stuntman, and college baseball player Michael Papajohn got his start in show business while he was attending Louisiana State University, where he played for the LSU Tigers. After having the opportunity to perform some stunts in the sports movie Everybody's All American in 1988, Papajohn began pursuing stunt and acting roles, appearing in movies like The Last Boy Scout and Mr. Baseball. He would find consistent acting work over the coming years, frequently making small appearances. He played an unnamed thug in 2000's Charlie's Angels and a security guard in the 2002 comedy The Hot Chick, and continued to take on several roles per year throughout the 2000s, notably appearing in I Know Who Killed Me, Spider-Man 3, and Terminator Salvation.

Trivia: Stunt man, stunt coordinator, second unit director, and actor, onscreen from the '80s.

Trivia: While still a teenager, producer and director Tony Scott made his first foray into film with an appearance in his big brother Ridley Scott's first short film, Boy and Bicycle. He later attended London's Royal College of Art, as did his brother, and proceeded to get his feet wet behind the camera, at first by directing TV commercials for his brother's production company Ridley Scott Associates. He became a leader in the British commercial industry, directing countless ads and building up an impressive resumé over the years.By the early '80s, Tony Scott was ready to begin directing films, and for his first project, he agreed to tackle MGM's artful vampire pic The Hunger, starring David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve. The movie was released in 1983 to a disappointing silence at the box office, and for the next few years Scott returned to commercials as he waited for his next opportunity to come along. That project came in the form of an offer from producer Jerry Bruckheimer to direct a fun action drama about hotshot fighter jet pilots -- Top Gun. Scott's darker artistic sensibilities didn't jive with Bruckheimer's ideas at first -- he had images of Apocalypse Now and The Road Warrior in mind, while the producers were envisioning something poppier and easy to digest. Finally, Scott understood what they were asking for and created the rock & roll and blue-skies flick that they had in mind. The movie was a massive box-office hit, ushering Scott into the next tier of filmmakers and making a star out of Tom Cruise.Scott almost instantly became the man to call on for fun action romps, directing films like Beverly Hills Cop II in 1987, Days of Thunder in 1990, and The Last Boy Scout in 1991. He also directed a script written by a then unknown named Quentin Tarantino called True Romance. Starring a top-notch ensemble cast including Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, and Brad Pitt, the film was something of a sleeper at the box office. The exuberant tribute to cinematic expressions of love, crime, violence, and rock & roll quickly became another cult hit -- and a preview of things to come from the writer behind it. The movie also served as a reminder that Scott was capable of more sensitive and artistic sentiments than the testosterone-driven pictures that encompassed much of his filmography.That is not to say Scott was not quite at home in the action and thriller areas of film, as he spent the 1990s churning out popular titles like Crimson Tide, The Fan, and Enemy of the State. He continued with his trademark action-with-a-sense-of-humor style in the new millennium with films like Spy Game, Man on Fire, and Domino, but by this time he was trying his hand at producing as well. Scott produced and executive produced TV ventures like The Last Debate, The Gathering Storm, and Numb3rs, as well as features such as Tristan + Isolde and In Her Shoes, and his own Man on Fire and Domino. Scott's next three films, 2006's Deja Vu, and 2009's The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, and 2010's Unstoppable, found the director becoming something of a frequent collaborator with Hollywood heavyweight Denzel Washington. Yet just as his career would circle back with the development of Top Gun 2, Tony took his own life by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro. He left behind a wife, two twin boys, and a breadth of work that was unique, satisfying, and always delivered with a stylish flair that only became more daring as his career went on.