Variety reports that longtime actor Bruce Kirby has died on Sunday, in Los Angeles. He was 95.
Born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu in New York City in 1925, Kirby started out studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio in New York. He had just turned 30 when he made his small screen debut on The Goodyear Playhouse in 1955. A veteran character actor, he followed that appearance with several guest star parts, in everything from The Phil Silvers Show to I Dream Of Jeannie to Mission: Impossible. Kirby’s low-key everyman charm seemed to particularly make him well-suited for cop or detective parts, in series like Car 54, Where Are You?, Chico And The Man, Kojak, and Barney Miller.
Undoubtedly his most famous role was that of Sergeant George Kramer on the legendary detective series Columbo. Such was Peter Falk’s charisma and the show’s string of high-profile guest stars that, other than the trademark trenchcoat, car, and basset hound, Kirby was the closest thing the show had to a recurring cast member other than the title character. Sergeant Kramer was usually simultaneously befuddled and impressed by Columbo’s unconventional sleuthing methods. Kirby appeared in nine episodes overall, not just as Kramer, but also a lab attendant and a TV repairman. In the ’80s, Kirby made a similarly noteworthy impression as a D.A. in 13 episodes of L.A. Law.
Throughout the decades, the actor’s pace never appeared to slow, as he appeared on Matlock, Murphy Brown, and Murder, She Wrote. In more recent years, he guested on Days Of Our Lives, The West Wing, and The Sopranos. His last TV appearance was on a 2007 episode of Scrubs.
His big screen appearances were less frequent, but Kirby appeared in films like Catch-22, The Muppet Movie, Crash, Sweet Dreams, The Big Picture, and played a character named after himself, Mr. Quidaciolu in Stand By Me, as the shop owner who tells Gordy that he looks like his deceased brother, Denny. He finally retired from acting in 2009.
Kirby was the father of similarly hard-working actor Bruno Kirby, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 57.
Bruce Kirby’s survivors include his son John, an acting coach, and his wife Roz, who he married in 1976.
17 Comments
I had no idea that guy (whose name I didn’t know) was Bruno Kirby’s dad.Also, I had no idea Bruno Kirby was dead.
I didn’t know Bruno Kirby was dead, either, and at first misread ‘Bruce’ as ‘Bruno’ and was like “Aww, man.” Then I read the article and found out that Bruno was dead too.
I knew Bruno was dead (I was so fond of him as an actor) but I had no idea Bruce was his father…Always sad seeing more warm, familiar faces of ‘70s and ‘80s TV go.
I also had no idea, but the first thing that struck me was that episode from the screenshot above also features Bruno. Can’t recall if they shared a scene together though
I had no idea Kirby Puckett was dead!
I was just thinking about him the other day when I rewatched his scenes from The Sopranos at Hugh’s party. Fuck that episode is good
man he was such an asshole in that scene.
I cannot, for the life of me, remember him in that scene, and my Google Fu is weak this morning.Can you refresh my memory?
I know he’s not the one we’re being asked how we’ll remember (RIP Cloris), but he’ll always be Blanche’s soldier/pharmacist beau to me.
“Bruno”OK, European “Giovanni”Ah, Italian! “Quidaciolu”…Martian-Italian!? My two years of High School Italian did not prepare me for that word, which reads more like an entire Italian sentence. (We mostly stuck to very small words.)In fact, Google Translate detects “Qui da ciolu” as Corsican — AKA Italian 3 centuries removed — and translates it as “Here from heaven”. Even if wildly incorrect (seems likely): “Neat!” So long, Mr. Kirby.
No love for “Holmes & Yoyo”?Another of the last of the great TV character is gone. Ouch. Rest in peace.
There has been love for Holmes & Yoyo demonstrated in these pages before. The Random Roles with John Schuck discusses it a bit, I think, and I remember commenters below that refused to believe such a show ever existed.https://film.avclub.com/john-schuck-1798229196
It did exist. It was real. And it was spectacular(ly bad).I even commented on that very article way back in 2012! I really need a life.
Forgot about this show. I always thought Richard Schull was Tom Hanks’s real father
All love to Holmes and YoYo. What a stupid, wonderful, insane, awesome and terrible show. I was so excited when it debuted and then it barely lasted, which was probably for the best.
For a long time I thought I had imagined that entire show, because people didn’t even know about it while the show was on (which explains why it was cancelled). Even at 10 years old it seemed pretty stupid to me, but it did have a kind of oddball charm. I mean, c’mon, John Schuck proving he’s a robot by unbuttoning his shirt to show a small door with 2 calculators taped to his chest? Technology!
I literally watched the Columbo episode ‘Make Me A Perfect Murder’ last night. When I saw Kirby, as always, I thought, ‘hey he was that guy who met the Pope and was a jerk to Carmella’s dad on The Sopranos’. Shame to see him pass away. The world is running out of all-star Hey It’s That Guys.