Vive le Bruce!

Thu., Apr. 14, 2005 10:30 AM PDT by Josh Grossberg

How do you say "yippee-ki-yay" in French?

Bruce Willis has been feted with one of France's highest cultural honors: The Die Hard star was made an officer in the Order of Arts and Letters during a ceremony in Paris on Wednesday.

"This is France's way of paying tribute to an actor who epitomizes the strength of American cinema, the power of the emotions that he invites us to share on the world's screens and the sturdy personalities of his legendary characters," said the country's culture minister, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres as he presented the insignia to Willis.

While Donnediue cautioned fans that Willis' film roles not be reduced to a simple clash "between Good and Evil," the culture minister did quip that the Hollywood action hero has certainly "killed a lot of bad guys!"

"With your dazzling filmography, you bring to life these heroes with big hearts who always end up putting their own lives on the line, who ward off fate," continued Donnedieu.

For his part, the 50-year-old Willis attempted to make a tr?s superbe speech to the crowd in its native tongue. But the actor clearly fumbled along in French, a language the New Jersey native is far from fluent in.

"Thank you to France and you, Mr. Minister, for this great, great honor," said Willis. "I am extremely touched by this medal. It proves that film has no borders and that we all belong to the same artistic community. This honor will always remain in my heart."

The actor, in town doing the publicity rounds for his latest action-thriller, Hostage, wrapped up his remarks with the traditional "Vive la France!"

The prestigious Order of Arts and Letters award was established in 1957 and is presented biannually to creative types who have contributed to furthering the arts in France and the world. It's comprised of three ranks: knight, officer and commander, the last of which is the highest. Other notable American artists who have received the accolade include Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Jim Jarmusch and Joel and Ethan Coen. Jerry Lewis famously received the rank of commander in 1984, just months before receiving France's highest award, the Legion of Honor.

As for Willis, he's no stranger to the French film industry, having starred for director Luc Besson in the 1997 sci-fi fable The Fifth Element.

Willis currently has two films on the big screen, Hostage and Sin City, the latter debuting at number one at the box office two weeks ago.

Last week, it was officially announced that Willis was finally ready to reprise his role as wise-cracking New York cop John McClane in the long-awaited fourth installment in the Die Hard series, the franchise that launched his movie career. Cameras will roll on Die Hard 4.0 by the year's end. As his French fans would say, c'est magnifique.