The two co-starred in the renowned 1999 horror/thriller, which is still widely regarded as a classic.

Willis portrayed Dr. Malcolm Crowe, and Osment, who was 10 at the time, played Cole Sear, a disturbed boy with the ability to connect with the dead.

Not only did the part garner Osment an Oscar nod for best supporting actor, but it also resulted in a decades-long relationship between him and Willis, with the Die Hard star staying in touch in the years after.

In a recent interview with Variety, Osment stated, “I heard a lot from [Willis] when it [the film] came out in those ensuing years. He would occasionally leave voicemails at the residence, just to check in.

“He’d just call out of nowhere, sometimes in the days leading up to a trip. We traveled to Japan twice, if I recall right, to launch Sixth Sense in different places.

“So he’d call ahead of time, and sometimes I’d come home from school and the answering machine would blink, and it’d be him saying, ‘Hey, Haley Joel.'” “Just saying hello.”
Discussing the sweet manner in which Willis kept in touch, Osment added, “I need to find those old answering recordings.” I know we kept those.

“I am somewhat acquainted with his daughters, but I have not had a conversation with him since the recent news about his health.”

During the conversation, Osment also discussed what it was like to work with Willis from such a young age on The Sixth Sense.

He went on to say, “I had previously worked with Tom Hanks on Forrest Gump and other big-name actors, but at the time I was old enough to have watched a lot of Bruce’s films, which brought a lot of excitement to it.

“And it’s something that lasts your entire career because you get to work with people you’ve enjoyed seeing in various contexts.”

“And it made a huge impression on me, because that was the first gigantic celebrity that I’d worked with at an age where I was aware of his stardom.”

The actor went on to claim Willis would do things in such a ‘cool way’ and had a lot of ‘charisma’, which isn’t surprising.

“It was a script we all cared about and worked hard on, and Bruce led that,” the actor said.

This comes after Osment paid a heartfelt tribute to Willis on Instagram in 2022, following the actor’s devastating diagnosis with aphasia, a condition that affects a person’s cognitive abilities, specifically language and speech, and causes difficulties with reading, writing, and listening.