Bruno Kirby, a notable character actor whose best work was displayed in the big box-office comedies Good Morning, Vietnam, When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers, died on August 14 in a Los Angeles hospital from leukemia. He was 57.

He was born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu Jr., in New York City on April 28, 1949. His father was an actor who went by the stage name Bruce Kirby. After choosing to follow in his father's profession, he relocated to Hollywood in the late '60s and slowly developed his career. After making his film debut in the feckless student drama The Graduates (1971), Kirby found solid footing in early television. In 1972, he was in the pilot episode of M.A.S.H., had a nice turn as a hustling student with father issues (playing opposite his dad, Bruce Kirby) in Room 222, and was a series regular in the short-lived sitcom The Super.

He was a very serviceable supporting player throughout the '70s and mid-'80s. His best early film role was as the young Clemenza in Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather II (1974), and he guest starred in many gritty, urban crime shows like Kojak and Delvecchio, and Hill Street Blues. He proved himself a fine comic actor with sharp undertones when he played the overly officious, yet sympathetic Lt. Hunk in Good Morning Vietnam (1987). He followed that up with a sublime performance as Billy Crystal's pal in When Harry Met Sally ... (1989); again with Crystal in City Slickers (1991) and was terrific as Marlon Brando's nephew in the light mob comedy The Freshman (1990).

After his great run with big-feature comedies, Kirby made his Broadway debut in 1991 when he filled in for Kevin Spacey as Uncle Louie in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers, earning praise along the way. Even after his best work was behind him, a top flight character player such as Kirby would always find steady work, whether it was television: Mad About You, Homicide: Life on the Street; or film: The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Donnie Brasco (1997). His last prominent part was that of District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Charles Manson in the impressive telefilm Helter Skelter (2004). He is survived by his father, Bruce; wife, Lynn; and brother, John.

by Michael T. Toole