Die Hard cast: Where are they now?

Bruce Willis (John McClane)

The success of Die Hard catapulted Bruce Willis from Emmy-winning colead of the hit TV series Moonlighting to A-list movie star overnight. With the Christmas action hit under his belt, and the private eye dramedy's cancellation in 1989, the actor moved into film work full-time. The next few years saw him voice Mikey in Look Who's Talking (1989) and Look Who's Talking Too (1990), costarring Kirstie Alley; the sequels Die Hard 2 (1990) and Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995); and Quentin Tarantino's critical and commercial hit Pulp Fiction (1994).

The former Planet Hollywood coinvestor hit a few bumps in the mid-'90s, but he closed out the decade with two of the most successful films of his career: Michael Bay's Armageddon (1998), and the M. Night Shyamalan thriller, The Sixth Sense (1999). The start of the new millennium saw Willis return to television in a three-episode guest arc on Friends that earned him a second Emmy award, as well as continuing his box office streak with The Whole Nine Yards (2000) and Unbreakable (2000). He's gone on to do two more Die Hard movies — 2007's Live Free or Die Hard and 2013's A Good Day to Die Hard — and added the Red and Expendables franchises to his résumé of action roles. Willis made his Broadway debut in 2015 with the stage adaptation of Stephen King's Misery, and, in 2019, completed the Unbreakable trilogy with the movie Glass, his fifth project with costar Samuel L. Jackson.

Willis was married to actress Demi Moore from 1987 to 2000, and the couple share three daughters: Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah. He married his second wife, Emma Heming, in 2009, with whom he has two daughters, Mabel Ray and Evelyn Penn. In March 2022, Rumer announced via Instagram that her father "has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities," and that the man perhaps best known as John McClane would be "stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him." In February 2023, Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.

Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber)

After accumulating several stage credits, a few TV roles, and a Tony nomination for his performance in Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985, Alan Rickman made his film debut as the iconic villain Hans Gruber in Die Hard. In fact, Rickman was cast after producer Joel Silver caught a performance of him in the celebrated play. An alumnus of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, the one-time graphic designer brought a sophisticated flair to the terrorist that wasn't initially in the script.

He followed the action hit with a costarring role opposite Tom Selleck in 1990's Quigley Down Under, before adding another legendary bad guy to his résumé as the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, for which he received a BAFTA. Reluctant to continue playing villains, he made a conscious effort to expand his filmography throughout the rest of the '90s, choosing eclectic roles in films such as Close My Eyes (1991), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Dogma (1999), and Galaxy Quest (1999). The 2000s saw the British thespian take on the perennial Christmas classic Love, Actually (2003) as well as the most well-known character of his career when he joined the Harry Potter franchise as the mysterious Severus Snape for eight films across 10 years.

Over the course of his career since Die Hard, he was nominated for, and won, several awards, including an Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild award, and received a second Tony nod for the Noël Coward play Private Lives. On Jan. 14, 2016, Rickman died at the age of 69 from pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife, Rima, with whom he had been partnered for over 50 years, and married for four.

Bonnie Bedelia (Holly Gennaro McClane)

Born Bonnie Bedelia Culkin, the Golden Globe-nominated aunt of Macaulay, Kieran, and Rory Culkin, was an accomplished actress prior to the success of Die Hard.

In 1990, she reprised her role as Holly Gennaro McClane in the follow-up, Die Hard 2, and starred with Harrison Ford in the box office hit Presumed Innocent (1990). She was featured in the adaptation of the best-selling Stephen King horror novel Needful Things in 1993, and continued to appear in movies on both the big and small screen throughout the '90s. From 2001 to 2004, she was a series regular on the cop drama The Division, and then spent six seasons as the matriarch of the Braverman family on the NBC drama Parenthood.

After 60-plus years in the industry, the two-time Emmy nominee is still going strong. In 2021, she had a recurring role in the Amazon Prime Video series Panic, and, in 2022, she costarred with This Is Us alum Justin Hartley in the Netflix holiday film The Noel Diary.

Reginald VelJohnson (Al Powell)

After a series of blink-and-you-'ll-miss-them roles in Ghostbusters (1984) and Crocodile Dundee (1986), Reginald VelJohnson found breakout success as Sgt. Al Powell in Die Hard, and later Die Hard 2. The unknown actor was cast after Gene Hackman, who was originally offered the role, dropped out for undisclosed reasons.

He followed his tenure as the fan-favorite cop by playing another officer of the law in 1989's Turner & Hooch starring Tom Hanks, and then yet another cop, this time for nearly a decade, as Carl Winslow on the hit sitcom Family Matters from 1989 to 1998. The Perfect Strangers spin-off, most famous for introducing the world to Jaleel White's lovable nerd Steve Urkel, was one of the most successful shows on ABC's popular TGIF line-up before moving to CBS for its final season.

In the years since Family Matters, VelJohnson has appeared on numerous TV shows in guest-starring parts. He reprised his role from Turner & Hooch on the short-lived Disney+ reboot, and voiced Principal Winslow, named after his Family Matters character, on the Seth Rogen-produced Amazon animated superhero series Invincible.

Clarence Gilyard Jr. (Theo)

In Die Hard, the California State University Theatre Arts alum portrayed the wisecracking computer hacker Theo, tasked with cracking the code to the Nakatomi vault and gaining access to the $640 million prize inside. Prior to the attempted Christmas Eve heist, Clarence Gilyard Jr. was a series regular in the final season of the '80s cop hit CHiPs, and made his film debut in the original Top Gun (1986) opposite Tom Cruise as Lt. Marcus "Sundown" Williams.

Following the success of Die Hard, he joined Andy Griffith on the series Matlock as private investigator Conrad McMasters from 1989 to 1993, before departing for a nine-season run costarring alongside Chuck Norris on the original Walker, Texas Ranger. Gilyard Jr. appeared in all 196 episodes of the series, as well as the 2005 TV movie. He returned to school after Walker, and earned a Masters of Fine Arts in theater performance at Southern Methodist University.

While he continued acting professionally, most notably in the Left Behind film series, his next role was outside the entertainment industry. As Professor Clarence Gilyard Jr. at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' College of Fine Arts, he shared the expertise he gained over more than three decades in the business until his death in November 2022 at the age of 66.

James Shigeta (Joseph Takagi)

The Hawaiian-born actor-singer — once known as "the Frank Sinatra of Japan" — starred in numerous television and film roles in the decades leading up to his turn as Nakatomi President Joseph Takagi in Die Hard, including the Oscar-nominated Flower Drum Song (1961), and Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966) with Elvis Presley. In 1960, he was one of four actors to share the Golden Globe for Most Promising Male Newcomer.

Post-Die Hard, the actor continued to work on the big and small screen, most notably as the voice of General Li in Disney's animated feature Mulan (1998). In 2006, he was one of many industry professionals interviewed for the documentary The Slanted Screen, which examined the portrayal of Asian men in Hollywood. He received the Visionary Award for his work from the East-West Players, the nation's first Asian American theater organization, in 2005. Shigeta died in his sleep at the age of 85 in July 2014.

Paul Gleason (Dwayne T. Robinson)

Paul Gleason was a Hollywood veteran long before he arrived on the scene at Nakatomi Plaza as bullheaded LAPD Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson. The one-time pro-baseball player made the leap to acting after two years in the minor leagues, and moved to New York City to study the craft at the famous Actors Studio. By the time he filmed Die Hard, he had been plying his trade professionally for nearly 20 years.

In addition to his role in Die Hard, Gleason is most famous for his portrayal of Principal Vernon in the classic John Hughes film The Breakfast Club (1985). Over the course of his career, the actor had notable roles in over 140 productions, including Trading Places (1983), National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), and the sitcoms Friends and Seinfeld. In January 2006, he published a book of poetry titled Uleta Blues & Haikus; in May of the same year, he died at the age of 67 from mesothelioma.

William Atherton (Richard "Dick" Thornburg)

Sleazy reporter Richard "Dick" Thornburg was brought to life by accomplished stage and screen actor William Atherton. A graduate of Pittsburgh's prestigious Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, he originated several roles on and off Broadway before landing the lead in Steven Spielberg's feature film directorial debut, The Sugarland Express (1974), alongside Goldie Hawn. Thornburg is one of three famously smarmy characters the actor played throughout the '80s, alongside EPA inspector Walter Peck in Ghostbusters, and Professor Jerry Hathaway in Real Genius (1985), making him one of the decade's go-to movie jerks.

Post-Die Hard, Atherton reprised his role for the sequel, and has worked steadily onstage, in voice-over, and in film and television, earning credits for The Pelican Brief (1993), Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and the Ghostbusters video game. He is set to reprise his role as Walter Peck in the 2023 Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel.

Atherton has been married to his wife Bobbi Goldin since 1980, and has supported charitable works with the Jewish Family Service of the Desert in Palm Springs, and the Los Angeles Library Foundation.

Alexander Godunov (Karl)

As Hans Gruber's top henchman, Karl, Alexander Gudonov's ballet-honed physicality made him a worthy adversary for Willis' McClane.

The Russian-born dancer-actor was a classmate and friend of Mikhail Baryshnikov, and a member of the Bolshoi Ballet. In 1979, while touring the United States, he sought political asylum and defected. In fact, the drama that ensued with the KGB and his wife, Lyudmila Vlasova, inspired the film Flight 222 in 1986. Post-defection, he joined the American Ballet. He transitioned into acting with small roles in Witness (1985) with Harrison Ford and The Money Pit (1986) with Tom Hanks. Gudonov became a naturalized citizen in 1987, before landing the part of Karl in Die Hard.

Gudonov starred in only four more films following the success of the Christmas action movie. His "refusal to play Russians, dancers, or more Die Hard-esque villains" hampered his career, EW wrote in a remembrance of the performer's life, after he tragically died from complications related to alcoholism on May 18, 1995 in his West Hollywood apartment.