Known more for his wisecracking than his muscles, Bruce Willis had more in common with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds than he did with the other stars on this list. His characters were smart and they knew it, using their wit and bite to taunt their enemies into humiliation. When their defences were down, he would strike.

The 'Die Hard' films remain the pinnacle of his action career, but with turns in respected classics such as 'Twelve Monkeys', 'Pulp Fiction' and 'The Sixth Sense', Willis proved to the critics that he was no slouch at acting in lower budget films either.