John McClane John McClane John McClane is the main protagonist of the "Die Hard" film series. He is portrayed by Bruce Willis. He is known for his sardonic one-liners, including the famous catchphrase "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker". John McClane was originally based on the fictional character Detective Joe Leland from Roderick Thorp's bestselling novel, "Nothing Lasts Forever". Other aspects are derived from Frank Malone from Walter Wager's novel "58 Minutes" (adapted as "Die Hard 2"). "Die Hard" villain Hans Gruber describes him as "just another American... who thinks he's John Wayne," to which McClane replies that he "was always partial to Roy Rogers." He
Bruce Willis titular characters to kill his wife, Dallas (voiced by Moore). He then played the lead roles in "12 Monkeys" (1995) and "The Fifth Element" (1997). However, by the end of the 1990s his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like "The Jackal", "Mercury Rising", and "Breakfast of Champions", saved only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed "Armageddon" which was the highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide. The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game "Apocalypse". In 1999, Willis then played the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film, "The Sixth