Bruce Kirby, 95, actor

[Diner]

https://www.facebook.com/johnkirby1/posts/10225059267418531
John Kirby is with Nathan Nesbitt.
Monday, January 25, 2021 at 7:41 PM

My dear brilliant Dad BRUCE KIRBY passed away peacefully last night at Cedars in Los Angeles at the age of 95. My heart is heavy but grateful for all the extra blessed years together. My Step-Mom ROZ’s Love & devotion was remarkable & a major force in keeping him alive so long.

My Father loved acting and aside from his extraordinary professional career in Televison, Film & Theater, he never stopped working on it from his early years in New York on scholarship with Lee Strasberg for 9 years, LA’s Theatre East & The Actors Studio. It was very painful for him when he no longer could perform. I am so glad his wonderful work will live on in Academy Award winning film: “CRASH” & all the late night TV streaming of his reoccurring & series regular roles including “KOJAK” “COLUMBO” “L.A. LAW” “CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?” & of course his special Guest Star on “GOLDEN GIRLS” to highlight a few.

He was very proud of his performance as Alfieri in the LA production of “A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE” & loved using his real Italian name (Bruno Giovanni) in the Program & Press. The cast included Kim Cattrall & the late Greats: Susan Peretz, Allen Garfield, Carmen Argenziano & Kevin Geer. After Arthur Miller saw him in this, my Dad was led back to Broadway as Miller cast him for the role of BEN in Dustin Hoffman’s “DEATH OF A SALESMAN” an experience my Dad & Roz cherished.

He was a great Father who loved Bruno and Me and as a family he made it his business for us to tour in these professional Summer Stock packages something we would all look forward to every summer! Touring in several productions of “BYE BYE BIRDIE” with Van Johnson & “GYPSY” with Jane Morgan. My older brother Bruno even shared his birthdate with our beloved Dad; April 28th. Bruce was also terrific to our step-brother Brad Sullivan and our longtime childhood friend Tony Amatullo

One of my favorite documentaries is “TROUPERS” Produced by my loyal childhood friend Sara T. Ballantine whom my Dad always loved. Bruce is featured in this wonderful look into the world of how Actors persevere through decades of show-biz challenges & victories with so many recognizable family friends interviewed.

Special thanks to PEDRO his 24 hour Care-Giver & the dearest Susan J. Sullivan who always goes the extra mile to look out for Dad & Roz well being.

Thank You DAD for everything you taught me about Acting & how to have such a strong work ethic while sharing your love for the Arts & the Craft of it all. I will miss You & Love You always. I’m glad you’re up there with Bruno and so many of our loved ones.

All my Love,
JOHN

[TeddyKGB]

Post by Diner
https://www.facebook.com/johnkirby1/posts/10225059267418531
John Kirby is with Nathan Nesbitt.
Monday, January 25, 2021 at 7:41 PM
My dear brilliant Dad BRUCE KIRBY passed away peacefully last night at Cedars in Los Angeles at the age of 95. My heart is heavy but grateful for all the extra blessed years together. My Step-Mom ROZ’s Love & devotion was remarkable & a major force in keeping him alive so long.

Odd memory of Bruce Kirby. In the 80s, I knew an ad agency person in Boston who was on the New England Telephone account. He was on a team that created a sequence of TV commercials that were essentially a soap opera of a daughter and father, suddenly estranged over some vague incident , with the plot being if or when they would re-connect via their landline phone (this was before cell phones, email, and Internet). The commercials were a huge hit and became a J.R. Ewing level cliffhanger in New England as people waited for each new commercial, usually two months apart, to follow the drama. Bruce Kirby played the father, he had a small, recurring role on LA Law at the time. The suspense ended on Christmas Day, with of course, a happy ending. TV stations in Tampa were showing that commercial, so that any Bostonians who had migrated to Florida for the winter could see the ending.

[Diner]

This obit lists his real name as Bruno Giovanni. It was actually Bruno Giovanni Quidacioluo.
He played Mr. Quidacioluo in "Stand By Me."


https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bruce-kirby-dead-columbo-cop-904097
Bruce Kirby, Veteran Character Actor and 'Columbo' Cop, Dies at 95
The father of the late Bruno Kirby, he also portrayed District Attorney Bruce Rogoff on 'L.A. Law.'
8:31 AM PST 1/26/2021 by Mike Barnes

Bruce Kirby, the veteran character actor perhaps best known for portraying the gullible Sgt. George Kramer on the long-running NBC series Columbo, has died. He was 95.

Kirby, who excelled at playing authority figures during his more than five decades in show business, died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son, John, reported.

His older son, actor Bruno Kirby (The Godfather: Part II, When Harry Met Sally …, City Slickers), died in August 2006 from leukemia at age 57.

The elder Kirby also portrayed District Attorney Bruce Rogoff on NBC's L.A. Law, and early in his career he was one of the goofy cops from the fictional 53rd Precinct in the Bronx seen in the early 1960s sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?

In Rob Reiner's Stand by Me (1986), Kirby played the market owner Mr. Quidacioluo, who tells Gordie (Wil Wheaton) that he resembles his older, deceased brother. He also was a detective in Throw Momma From a Train (1987), and in the 2006 Oscar best picture winner Crash, he appeared as Pop Ryan, the father of cop John Ryan (Matt Dillon).

A native of New York who studied with Lee Strasberg, Kirby (real name: Bruno Giovanni) also recurred as Sgt. Al Vine on Kojak and then starred as a San Francisco police officer opposite Kojak co-star Kevin Dobson on another CBS crime drama, Shannon.

On Columbo, his unimaginative Sgt. Kramer constantly fell for for the killer's alibi, accepted clues at face value and thought Peter Falk's character was nuts. Kirby appeared in nine episodes of the show spanning more than two decades.

He played another cop for laughs on the wacky, short-lived 1976-77 sitcom Holmes and Yo-Yo.

Kirby starred as legendary TV broadcaster Arthur Godfrey in the 1985 film Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline, and appeared on the big screen in Catch-22 (1970), Don Knotts' How to Frame a Figg (1971), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Another Time, Another Place (1992) and Mr. Wonderful (1993).

After Arthur Miller saw him as Alfieri in an L.A. production of A View From the Bridge, the playwright brought him to Broadway and cast him as Uncle Ben opposite Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman in 1984. (Kirby had made his Broadway debut in 1965 in Diamond Orchid.)

In addition to John Kirby, an acting coach, survivors include his wife, Roz.

Wrote his son: "Thank you Dad for everything you taught me about acting and how to have such a strong work ethic while sharing your love for the arts and the craft of it all. I will miss you and love you always. I’m glad you're up there with Bruno and so many of our loved ones."