Bruno Kirby
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| Bruno Kirby | |
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 Bruno Kirby
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| Born | April 28, 1949 New York, USA |
| Died | August 14, 2006 Los Angeles, California, USA |
Bruno Kirby, born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu, Jr. (April 28, 1949 – August 14, 2006), was an American character actor.
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[edit] Personal life
Kirby was born into a Hollywood family; his father is actor Bruce Kirby (born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu), who most recently appeared in the movie Crash, and his brother, John Kirby, is a notable acting coach. Bruno Kirby married actress Lynn Sellers in 2004.
[edit] Career
Kirby was a popular character actor through the late 1980s and early '90s, although the frequency of his film appearances waned.
Kirby's film debut was in the little-seen The Young Graduates (1971). Early television appearances included the series Room 222 and The Super, but it was his role in The Godfather Part II that raised his profile in Hollywood.
Described by film critic Leonard Maltin as "the quintessential New Yorker or cranky straight man", Kirby displayed his talents in a series of comedies, typically playing fast-talking, belligerent, yet strangely likeable characters. His most well-known roles include a fellow colleague to Albert Brooks' film editor in Modern Romance, a talkative limo driver in This Is Spinal Tap (1984), the jealous, comedically-impaired U.S. Army officer Lt. Hauk in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and a shifty assistant to Marlon Brando — a parody of his Godfather role — in The Freshman (1990). Kirby balanced comedies with dramatic roles in Donnie Brasco as a double dealing mobster and Sleepers in a disguised role as the wise father of Jason Patric's character.
Kirby and comedian Billy Crystal made a popular screen team in When Harry Met Sally... (1989) and City Slickers (1991). Both featured Kirby's character as the opinionated best friend to Crystal's character. However, Kirby refused to sign on for the sequel City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold unless script changes were made. Crystal replaced him with Jon Lovitz, and the film was widely panned.
In 1991, Kirby made his Broadway debut to great critical acclaim when he replaced Kevin Spacey in Neil Simon's Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play Lost in Yonkers
In the last decade of his life, Kirby (and his unforgettable voice) had a last great success in a major role apparently modeled on the character he always played, in the animated children's classic Stuart Little (1999), and was increasingly working on television. He starred as Barry Scheck in a 2000 CBS drama American Tragedy about the O.J. Simpson case. He played a paroled convict out for revenge in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. More recently, he played Phil Rubenstein in the HBO series Entourage.
[edit] Death
Bruno Kirby died on August 14, 2006, at age 57 in Los Angeles from complications related to leukemia. According to the Associated Press and other news reports, his widow stated that he had only recently been diagnosed with the disease.
[edit] Trivia
- In The Super, Kirby portrayed Richard Castellano's son. Ironically, Castellano appeared in The Godfather (1972) as hefty Pete Clemenza, a prominent member of the Corleone crime family. Kirby subsequently played a younger version of Clemenza in the sequel, The Godfather Part II. He was listed in the credits as 'B. Kirby, Jr.'. He made a reference to his appearance in the film in a cameo as himself on The Larry Sanders Show, in which he gets into an argument with Hank (Jeffrey Tambor).
- In an interview on Bob Costas' Later show, Kirby revealed that, like his character in This Is Spinal Tap, he was a fanatical fan of Frank Sinatra. He was also deathly allergic to horses, and needed daily allergy shots on the set of City Slickers.
- He can be glimpsed in the Pilot episode of M*A*S*H, playing the character "Boone," though he has no lines.
[edit] Filmography
- One Eyed King - (2001)
- Spy Games - (2000)
- American Tragedy - (2000)
- Stuart Little - (1999) - Voice
- Donnie Brasco - (1997)
- Sleepers - (1996)
- The Basketball Diaries - (1995)
- Golden Gate - (1994)
- Fallen Angels - Vol. 2 - (1993)
- Mastergate - (1992)
- City Slickers - (1991)
- The Freshman - (1990)
- We're No Angels - (1989)
- When Harry Met Sally... - (1989)
- Good Morning, Vietnam - (1987)
- Flesh and Blood - (1985)
- This Is Spinal Tap - (1984)
- Kiss My Grits - (1982)
- Modern Romance - (1981)
- Borderline - (1980)
- Where the Buffalo Roam - (1980)
- Between the Lines - (1977)
- The Godfather: Part II - (1974)
- The Harrad Experiment - (1973)
- Superdad - (1973)
