RIP Bruno Kirby

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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bruno Kirby, a veteran character actor who co-starred in "When Harry Met Sally," "City Slickers" and many other films, has died at age 57, his wife said Tuesday.

Kirby died Monday in Los Angeles from complications related to leukemia, according to a statement from his wife, Lynn Sellers. He had recently been diagnosed with the disease.

"We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from Bruno's fans and colleagues who have admired and respected his work over the past 30 years," his wife said. "Bruno's spirit will continue to live on not only in his rich body of film and television work but also through the lives of individuals he has touched throughout his life."

Kirby was perhaps best known for his roles opposite Billy Crystal in 1989's "When Harry Met Sally" and 1991's "City Slickers."

Other film credits included "Good Morning, Vietnam," "The Godfather: Part II" and "Donnie Brasco." More recently, he played Phil Rubenstein on the HBO series "Entourage."

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:15 (nineteen years ago)

MY GOD WHO'S NEXT

― you're killing me, larry! (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:18 (nineteen years ago)

when you’ve loved and lost the way Frank has, then you know what life’s about

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:20 (nineteen years ago)

wow, leukemia taking its toll, arthur lee, now bruno. RIP.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:23 (nineteen years ago)

what?!?!? fuuuuuuck. RIP. sad.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:31 (nineteen years ago)

he did a great episode of "entourage" this seez!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:31 (nineteen years ago)

oh it said that already.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:32 (nineteen years ago)

But it's...it's a passing thing...it's uh.... I mean I would never tell them this but this is uh...this is a fad.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:34 (nineteen years ago)

also best known as "Art" from Night Court

― kingfish trapped under ice (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:35 (nineteen years ago)

No! That's a real shame. Rest in peace, Bruno. I'll always remember your stealing that rug in "The Godfather Part II."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:42 (nineteen years ago)

"stealing" "offering"

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:44 (nineteen years ago)

Godfather Part II, people.

This is surprising. RIP.

― don't call it a comeback (kenan), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:47 (nineteen years ago)

Baby Fish Mouth... never forget.

― don't call it a comeback (kenan), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:51 (nineteen years ago)

Bruno Kirby is also funny in his scene in Spinal Tap.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:53 (nineteen years ago)

He was kind of always funny, just by virtue of being Bruno Kirby. At least in retrospect.

Oh, that's especially awful. Didn't see that coming.

― don't call it a comeback (kenan), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 03:59 (nineteen years ago)

Favorite Bruno Kirby moments:

From Good Morning Vietnam: "I know in my heart that I am funny."

― don't call it a comeback (kenan), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 04:01 (nineteen years ago)

actually art on 'night court' was played by some other dude who was also short and nasally.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 04:06 (nineteen years ago)

and similarly mustachioed.

― don't call it a comeback (kenan), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 04:10 (nineteen years ago)

wow, bruno. he came into the store i ran below the rittenhouse hotel on rittenhouse square in philly once with his big bombshell wife and he totally gave me a "howyadoin'" straight out of the movies. it made my week. bravo, bruno!

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 04:12 (nineteen years ago)

he was the first celebrity i saw when i came to l.a., sitting at a table with some friends drinking beer.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 04:13 (nineteen years ago)

actually art on 'night court' was played by some other dude who was also short and nasally.

my god, you're right. i've spent my adult life thinking bruno kirby was mike finneran

― kingfish trapped under ice (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 04:16 (nineteen years ago)

"Kill me now,Im on a fuckin panel with Wil Wheaton and EG Daily"
http://www.jkeith.net/wml2005/images/mar9b.jpg

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 05:18 (nineteen years ago)

I really liked his voice. RIP.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 06:28 (nineteen years ago)

i would add how he looked like a miniature John Larroquette but I'm beginning to think we're playing with forces we don't understand.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 06:31 (nineteen years ago)

aw, fuck! RIP

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 06:42 (nineteen years ago)

Why was Ned on that panel?
RIP, Bruno.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 06:58 (nineteen years ago)

i believe that's andy zax, aka the music geek on tv's beat the geeks!

― you're killing me, larry! (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 07:06 (nineteen years ago)

(among other things.)

― you're killing me, larry! (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 07:13 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, that's funny. I thought maybe it was Ned. I actually met Andy once, too.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 07:24 (nineteen years ago)

lol

― you're killing me, larry! (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 07:32 (nineteen years ago)

Great minds think alike, Mom always assures me . . .

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 07:44 (nineteen years ago)

he hated Billy Crystal.

― don weiner (don weiner), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 12:14 (nineteen years ago)

yeah his young clemenza is awesome.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 12:15 (nineteen years ago)

no! gutted.

everyone's alraedy said the classics but...man.

i was always amazed how damn different he looked in
'GOOD MORNING VIETNAM' compared to 'WHEN HARRY MET SALLY' and 'SPINAL TAP' - a de niro-esque transformation without the aid of make-up!

funny as his 'you'll never have to be out there again' line popped in my head just last night.

― pisces (piscesx), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 12:29 (nineteen years ago)

Don't forget "The Freshman"!!!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 12:44 (nineteen years ago)

he hated Billy Crystal.

If true, he is forgiven his generally annoying screen presence.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 12:49 (nineteen years ago)

Like Morbius, I wasn't his biggest fan, but yeah his scene in Spinal Tap is classic. RIP.

― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

Awww.
He was usually great. Probably the best "celebrity" cameo on Homicide (except maybe Aerosmith's Joe Perry). That's a fucking great episode.
Also, he was a very young military academy cadet in an episode of Columbo once.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

HATED him? how comes he was in so many movies with him then? like, six or something?

― pisces (piscesx), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

Masochist?

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

Man with a mortgage?

― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

they were like Johnny & Joey Ramone

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

well-paid masochist?

― kingfish trapped under ice (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

He was amusing as Marlon Brando's nephew in The Freshman: "When they saw him, they based the movie on him."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

Probably the best "celebrity" cameo on Homicide (except maybe Aerosmith's Joe Perry). That's a fucking great episode.

Good god that was a good one, "The Gas Man". Him and Richard Edson shadowing Frank while listening to disco. Good times & RIP.

― Picnics and Pixie Stix (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 18:07 (nineteen years ago)

did he get along w/ Edson? they were in Good Morning Vietnam together too.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

he hated Billy Crystal.

WHAT?!?! Deets, please!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

he was one of those dudes i was always happy to see pop up in a movie. RIP.

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

When phrases from film and tv enter your own vocabulary, it's mostly because of the person who delivers them. I rarely use the phrase "yes I can" without inwardly or outwardly adding "but only if Frank Sinatra says it's OK".

Thanks, Bruno! RIP.

― Ally C (Ally C), Thursday, 17 August 2006 11:49 (nineteen years ago)

Ally C beat me to it! RIP

― Dadaismus (a rattly old puffin who remembers ILX in the days when...) (Dada), Thursday, 17 August 2006 11:51 (nineteen years ago)

WHAT?!?! Deets, please!

I don't know when his dislike of Crystal began, but it manifested itself during the making of City Slickers. That's why (ALLEGEDLY) Kirby wasn't in the sequel. It's not much of a secret, really.

― don weiner (don weiner), Thursday, 17 August 2006 12:15 (nineteen years ago)

his deleted scenes on the spinal tap dvd are the best...

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Thursday, 17 August 2006 12:16 (nineteen years ago)

http://bedazzled.blogs.com/bedazzled/2006/08/rip_bruno_kirby.html

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Thursday, 17 August 2006 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

his deleted scenes on the spinal tap dvd are the best...

tru dat...when they get him stoned and he sings in his underwear - brilliant!

Bruno Kirby=never made a movie worse, always made a movie better (at least as far as I can remember)....that's really something, when you think about it.

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 17 August 2006 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

what's the Sinatra line from?

He was in Modern Romance??

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 17 August 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

what's the Sinatra line from?

Spinal Tap

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 August 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

anymore on the kirby/crystal hate caper?

― pisces (piscesx), Thursday, 28 September 2006 13:30 (nineteen years ago)

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