Life and career

Bruce Kirby started his television career in the 1950s with appearances in Goodyear Television Playhouse. During the 1960s, he appeared in I Dream of Jeannie, The Nurses, The Defenders, Car 54, Where Are You?, and The Patty Duke Show among others. He played in Bonanza, Ironside, Barney Miller, Hogan's Heroes, The Rockford Files, The Marcus-Nelson Murders, Kojak, M*A*S*H and Alice during the 1970s. In the 1980s, he appeared in Remington Steele, Night Court, Matlock, Hill Street Blues, Lou Grant and Punky Brewster. His 1990s television credits include The Golden Girls, L.A. Law, In the Heat of the Night, Murphy Brown, Murder, She Wrote and Chicago Hope. During the 2000s, he appeared in The Sopranos, The Agency, Scrubs and The West Wing.

Kirby had several roles in the long-running series Columbo, most notably as the gullible Sergeant Kramer in six episodes. In 1981-1982, he appeared as San Francisco police officer Schmidt in the nine-episode CBS crime drama Shannon starring Kevin Dobson in the title role. He played the part of District Attorney Bruce Rogoff in thirteen episodes of L.A. Law from 1986 until 1991. He also played minor roles in some films, including the film classics Catch-22 (1970) and Stand by Me (1986). He also appeared in the 1971 movie called How to Frame a Figg with Don Knotts and the 1972 comedy Another Nice Mess with Rich Little. A notable recent appearance was as Pop Ryan, father of Officer John Ryan (played by Matt Dillon) in the 2005 film Crash. Bruce Kirby was also active as an actor on New York's Broadway, appearing in Diamond Orchid (1965) and Death of a Salesman (1984).

His late son, Bruno Kirby, was also a character actor in both comedies and dramas. His other son, John Kirby is an acting coach.

Filmography

• Catch-22 (1970)
• How to Frame a Figg (1971)
• J.W. Coop (1971)
• Another Nice Mess (1972)
• The Muppet Movie (1979)
• Sweet Dreams (1985)
• Stand by Me (1986)
• Armed and Dangerous (1986)
• Happy New Year (1987)
• Throw Momma from the Train (1987)
• Lady in White (1988)
• Mr. Wonderful (1993)
• Crash (2004)
• 2:22 (2008)
• Bottom Feeders (2009)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]