Don Johnson Gives Update on Pal Bruce Willis & Recalls When He First Knew the Actor Was ‘Special’

Don Johnson has been friends with Bruce Willis for decades and reminisced about the early days of their friendship amid the star’s dementia diagnosis.

“Bruce and I were friends when he was a bartender at Cafe Central and I’d go in there and sit with Bruce,” the Dr. Odyssey star said on Good Morning America. “I didn’t drink at the time, but 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 I got to be friendly with him. I said, ‘You’d be awesome [as an actor].'”

Johnson took it upon himself to call the casting director for Miami Vice and suggest Willis to audition. “I said, ‘Bonnie, there’s a guy that’s a bartender at Cafe Central.’ She said, ‘I know, there’s 5,000 of them.’ I said, ‘No, this guy is interesting and he’s special. Bring him in and read him.’ And he did and we cast him in Miami Vice.”

The actor said he “could just tell” that Willis had something special. “I could sit with a director and in 15 seconds I can say whether he has film sense or he doesn’t,” Johnson explained. “You just pick those things up.”

In another interview with Entertainment Tonight, Johnson addressed Willis’ illness. “We’re best of friends and he’s having a little bit of a struggle right now and I take this moment to send him love,” he said.

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Willis retired from acting in 2022 after being diagnosed with aphasia. His family announced the news in a joint statement at the time (the Die Hard star is married to Emma Heming-Willis and has five daughters, three of whom he shares with ex Demi Moore). In February 2023, the family revealed they had received a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.

“You know, given the givens, he’s in a very stable place at the moment,” Moore revealed on CNN in February.