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Bruno Kirby

With his distinctively high-pitched, raspy voice and often agitated performances, Bruno Kirby was one of the most instantly recognizable character actors in film and on television. He broke into TV with a recurring role on the comedy drama "Room 222" (ABC, 1969-1974), and began working in film with small parts in efforts like "Cinderella Liberty" (1973), before gaining wide exposure in Francis Ford Coppola's Academy Award-winning sequel to his Mafia family epic, "The Godfather, Part II" (1974). Kirby enjoyed diverse, if sometimes brief, portrayals in the features "Where The Buffalo Roam" (1980), "This is Spinal Tap" (1984), and "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987). It was, however, for two separate roles - in each of which he played Billy Crystal's best friend - that Kirby would be most remembered: in the oft-quoted romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally" (1989), followed by "City Slickers" (1991). He continued to work extensively, returning to the mob in such projects as "Donnie Brasco" (1997), and as a high-profile defense attorney in the made-for-TV movie "American Tragedy" (CBS, 2000), before succumbing to the effects of leukemia in 2006. Kirby's highly regarded career served as the perfect reverse illustration to the age-old theater axiom that there are no small roles, only small actors. By all accounts, Kirby never gave a small performance in his regrettably brief life.