Just a few days ago, the film industry and everyone who has some affection for him were shaken by the news, confirmed through social networks by the most important women in the actor’s life: Bruce Willis received a diagnosis of dementia, approximately a year after leaving the scene following his diagnosis of aphasia.
Since we announced that Bruce had been diagnosed with aphasia in the spring of 2022 his condition has progressed. Now we have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia.
The star, so closely linked to action movies through her roles in films such as The jungle of crystal, but whom we also remember for his roles in Moonlight either The sixth Sense, thus ending his career due to a mental illness, perhaps the great unfinished business of medicine if we take into account that, according to WHO data, mental and neurological disorders represent 14% of the burden of diseases in world level.
It has undoubtedly been bad news, although it has not been the first time. Before Willis, there have been many other stars who have suddenly ended their careers due to mental illness.
Jack Nicholson
The last time a Nicholson film was released was in 2010, when he starred with Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd in How do you know if…? the actor of Chinatown, The Shining either Better… Impossible He left acting “discreetly” and, despite the rumors that spoke of his state of health, his family denied them for years. However, it has been confirmed for a long time that Nicholson suffers from Alzheimer’s, and recently those around him have made their concern about his condition known: “He does not leave the house and, although he is physically fine, his mind has left and he lives alone, like a recluse.”
Gene Wilder
“Do not tell me”
The actor whom we will always remember as the first Willy Wonka of cinema in our hearts passed away at the age of 86, in 2016, a few years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Wilder never wanted to make his illness public because he “did not want to disappoint the children” who, according to him, were still excited to see him. Except for a cameo in Will & Gracehad not acted since the late ’90s.
Sean Connery
The most international Scottish Sir, who was Agent Bond (even after saying he would “never be that again”) and William de Baskerville died at the age of 90, in 2020, after being officially retired from the screen for eight years, although it is true that since 2003 he had barely accepted a couple of roles for dubbing. Connery had been diagnosed with dementia.
ronald reagan
The beloved actor of the ’60s became president of his country, the US, in 1981 and served for two terms. His illness did not put an end to his acting career, but rather to politics, although he did not stop taking advantage of the occasion, in the mid-’90s, to campaign on the severity of Alzheimer’s, the disease that he suffered. diagnosed. He passed away in 2004.
robin williams
Very probably, few stars are remembered with as much affection as the protagonist of Dead Poets Club, Good Will Hunting either lady doubtfire. When Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson’s it wasn’t just his career: His life ended abruptly two months later when the actor committed suicide. Some time later, his wife revealed that not only did he have Parkinson’s, but the autopsy found that Williams suffered from diffuse dementia with Lewy bodies, a brain disorder that can cause alterations in thought, mood and behavior, in addition to visual hallucinations. It will never be known to what extent the actor was aware of his decisions when he took his own life.