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It’s hard to believe, but there was a time when Bruce Willis was considered nothing but a goofy television actor. No one ever expected him to be anything more than a guy who hopped from sitcom to sitcom or who vanished completely into the world of off-Broadway shows. It seemed his legacy in pop culture consciousness would be showing up as the answer to a trivia question about Cybill Shepherd.

He was such an unbankable, unknown entity that he wasn’t even the first choice for “Die Hard;” he was the sixth. (Can you imagine John McClane played by Burt Reynolds? Because it almost happened.) 20th Century Fox was so dubious about his playing McClane that they initially left his mug off the poster until the film — and its newly minted action star — was a proven success.

Willis became an instant icon as McClane, but his career has never been as solid as his fellow ’80s action stars. He’s been declared over, been praised for his comeback, hailed for reinventing himself as a character actor, crowned an immortal action treasure… and so the cycle goes. Through it all, Willis has kept on working, proving he was capable of more than simply blowing things up by taking on dramas and comedies; he’s ably shared the screen with ghosts, shuttled a space taxi, donned a fedora as a singing cat burglar and traveled back and forth through time like a pro.

After such a varied career and amazing successes like “Die Hard” and “The Sixth Sense, ” one wouldn’t expect Willis to name a recent film as the best that he’s ever made, but that’s what he’s said about “Looper.” We’re still waiting to see it and judge for ourselves, but until we do, here’s the best and worst of Willis’ career, according to us.