Bruce Willis, "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007)

Age: 52

Memorable Quote: "Yippee-ki-yay mother..."

I don't know if it's his bald head, his twinkly, crinkly eyes or his wizened, smart aleck smirk, but, I swear, the older Bruce Willis gets, the more bad-ass he becomes. Already proving his mettle as an aging lug in "Sin City" and the underrated "16 Blocks," Willis further impressed by resurrecting one of his most famous characters, "Die Hard" cop John McClane. The decision to revisit McClane in this fourth installment of the franchise could have been a wrong move that reeked of paycheck, or trying-too-hard toughness, but, instead, Willis' soulful, funny performance imbued the movie with a gritty, old-school dignity much needed in the realm of routine, slick action cinema. The picture is essentially a standard slam bang flick in which McClane is teamed with the ultimate modern action sidekick (a nerd -- in this case a hacker played by Apple spokesboy Justin Long), but it's great fun watching Willis both kick, punch and blow up the bad guys while continually commenting on how he's just a little too old for this. When suffering an injury big enough to concern Long, Willis shrugs it off with, "Sexy isn't it?" Thanks to Willis, yes it is. (20th Century Fox)