Bruce Dern Net Worth

Bruce Dern's Quotes

• Because I'm the only actor who ever killed John Wayne in a picture, producers have pegged me for a villain.
• I've played more psychotics and freaks and dopers than anyone.
• [on his fight scene with John Wayne] He walloped me bad.
• I never look back and say, "I wish I had played that role or this role". I never do that. You're only as good as your next film. I look forward; I always feel that you have to continue onward and upward, you can't look back. I became an actor because I felt I was interested in what makes human beings do what they do, particularly in times of crisis. That kind of acting is what I like to do.
• I'm only too proud to say that I've never had ANY discipline problems with Laura [Laura Dern, his daughter]. In fact, I never needed to lay a hand on her, because Diane [Diane Ladd, his former wife and Laura's mother] was so much better at keeping her in line than I was.

Interesting Facts about Bruce Dern

1. Alumnus of New Trier Township High School East, Winnetka, Illinois. Other New Trier graduates include Ralph Bellamy, Charlton Heston, Rock Hudson, Hugh B. O'Brien, Ann-Margret, Penelope Milford, Virginia Madsen and Liz Phair.
2. Born at 3:11am-CDT
3. Is one of the few actors to have killed John Wayne on screen (The Cowboys (1972)). He even received some death threats out of that.
4. Had two daughters with Diane Ladd. His eldest daughter, Diane Dern, was born November 27, 1960, and accidentally drowned in California on May 18, 1962 at just shy of 18 months of age, years before his second child, Laura Dern, was born in 1967.
5. His grandfather, George Dern, was a Governor of Utah, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first Secretary of War, including at the time of Bruce's birth. His father was a law partner with Adlai Stevenson and his brother in Chicago.
6. Great-nephew of poet Archibald Macleish.
7. Former father-in-law of (musician) Ben Harper.
8. Eleanor Roosevelt was his babysitter.
9. Has English, German, Scottish, and Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and distant Dutch and Welsh, ancestry.
10. An avid runner and ultra-marathoner, having run many 50 mile races.
11. Was a competitive middle distance runner at the University of Pennsylvania.
12. Is one of two actors to appear in movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino (Rod Taylor is the other).
13. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6270 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on November 1, 2010.
14. Seventeen years after daughter Laura Dern starred in Alexander Payne's first major film Citizen Ruth (1996), Bruce starred in Payne's Nebraska (2013) -- probably one of the few, if only, times in movie history that a father-daughter duo similarly starred in the same director's films, especially with the actress/daughter's performance preceding her actor/father's.
15. Became a father for the first time at age 25 when his second [now ex] wife Diane Ladd gave birth to their daughter Diane Elizabeth Dern in 1961.
16. Became a father for the second time at age 30 when his second [now ex] wife Diane Ladd gave birth to their daughter Laura Elizabeth Dern, aka Laura Dern on February 10, 1967.
17. Became a grandfather for the first time at age 65 when his daughter Laura Dern gave birth to her son Ellery Walker Harper, with [now ex] husband Ben Harper, on August 10, 2001.
18. Became a grandfather for the second time at age 68 when his daughter Laura Dern gave birth to her daughter Jaya Harper, with [now ex] husband Ben Harper, on November 28, 2004.
19. Claims that he has never smoked outside of the movies, or drank alcohol or coffee, due to his commitment to marathon running.
20. As of 2020, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Coming Home (1978), Django Unchained (2012), Nebraska (2013), and Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2019).