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bruno kirby, 1949-2006

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Bruno Kirby

i’m a fan of actors who don’t take themselves too series.

actors who pick smaller roles but seem to leave the most memorable performance.

actors who look like they’re just having fun on the job.

bruno kirby was one of those actors.

nobody could have pulled off the role of vic in the freshman better than bruno. coming into the movie, he knew exactly what it was and played it to a tee. he acted as the bridge between the hard-nosed carmine sabatini (the great marlon brando) and the green clark kellogg (matthew broderick). he was less of a comic relief and more of the shoestring that keeps the shoe tied.

the freshman

i loved city slickers but hated the sequel because bruno wasn’t in it. his perfomance far exceeded that of jon lovitz. lovitz and bruno shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath. its an insult that the filmmakers tried to use him as a replacement.

city slickers

one of my favorite roles he played was that of ball-busting 2nd lt. steven hauk in good morning, vietnam. everybody remembers robin williams’ lines, but let’s be serious for two seconds here, he wouldn’t have been able to deliver those if he didn’t have bruno. the funniest scene in the whole movie is hauk trying to do the radio show but bombing horribly.

steven hauk

i most recently saw bruno in an episode of entourage. i was reminded of how much i’ve enjoyed his work and wondered when he was going to do another movie. i didn’t know about his leukemia. he was taken far too early.

he will be missed, but luckily, his legacy in his movies lives on.

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