Bill Murray fights tears in tribute to 'good friend' Bruce Willis amid health struggle

Actor was emotional whilst paying tribute to his former co-star earlier this week. His comments come days after Bruce, whose diagnosis was announced two years ago, celebrated his 70th birthday.

Bill, 74, starred alongside Bruce, 70, in the film Moonrise Kingdom (2012). He's now revealed that they had crossed paths decades earlier when Bill worked on , with him a cast member from 1977 to 1980. He's shared that around that time Bruce had been an page whose job included refilling snacks in the dressing rooms.

His former colleague Bruce came up during an interview on Watch What Happens Live on Monday night. Whilst on the late-night talk show, Bill was asked by host Andy Cohen to rank the films that he had appeared in.

Whilst discussing Moonrise Kingdom - which he described as a "really beautiful, lovely film" - Bill paid tribute to one of his co-stars from the -nominated film. He said: "I got to work with, and have a wonderful time with, Bruce Willis."

Bill went on to suggest that they should remember Bruce following his birthday on March 19, less than two weeks prior to the interview. He continued by saying to Andy: "Y'know we should remember today he just had a birthday."

Paying tribute, Bill said: "Bruce Willis is a good guy. A good f***ing guy. And he was a good friend and really always understood ..." He then recalled the Die Hard star having worked behind-the-scenes at NBC earlier in his career.

He commented: "[Bruce] was a page at NBC when I was on Saturday Night Live. He was a page and his job was to come and to refill ... this sounds like insane s*** but his job was to come and go to the dressing rooms and refill the M&Ms and pretzels, kinda thing, in the actor's rooms."

Bill, who appeared close to tears, added: "I remember when I met him after he was already a successful guy - he said 'you and Gilda [Radner] were nice to me' and I thought 'okay'. And that's ... y'know, I always thought 'okay, I'm good with this guy'. But he was a ... he was a good guy."

His comments come just days after Bruce's 70th birthday on March 19 and with his wife , 46, on March 21. She marked both occasions with separate posts on her account.

She first wrote on the platform: "It's Bruce's birthday and if there's one thing I know it's that there's no greater fan than a Bruce fan. So flood him with all the love today, he will feel it, I swear he will. You are one powerful bunch. I love how you rally for him, and I'm so grateful that he has you."

Then days later, she posted for their anniversary: "Today marks 16 years with the love of a lifetime. We've shared monumental highs and devastating lows, and through it all, we've built something timeless. I'm so deeply grateful for every chapter I've had with him and all the ones we'll continue to write, in our language of unconditional love."

The special occasions comes three years on from the news in 2022 that Bruce , which can involve difficulty in communication. His family shared at the time that his cognitive abilities were affected and announced that he would be retiring from acting.

The following year, in which they shared that Bruce's condition had "progressed". His family said that, since his initial diagnosis, he had received a "more specific diagnosis" of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

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