Bruno Kirby
Bruno Kirby
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.

Contents 1 Personal life 2 Career 3 Death 4 Trivia 5 Filmography 6 External links

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.

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 film editor in Modern Romance, a talkative limo driver in This Is Spinal Tap (1984), 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 and Sleepers.

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 sidekick of 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, he 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.

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.

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.'.
• 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.

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)

External links

• Bruno Kirby at the Internet Movie Database
• Access Hollywood report on Kirby's death
• AP: 'City Slickers' Actor Bruno Kirby Dies
• BBC News obituary