‘Columbo’ & ‘L.A. Law’ Actor Was 95

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Bruce Kirby, the longtime character actor whose quite a few Tv roles bundled recurring turns on Columbo and L.A. Regulation, died Sunday in Los Angeles. Kirby, the father of late actor Bruno Kirby, was 95.

His son, performing coach John Kirby, declared the loss of life in a Fb article. A result in of death was not specified, but John Kirby noted that his father “passed absent peacefully” at Cedars-Sinai Professional medical Center in Los Angeles.

Commencing his performing occupation in the 1950s with appearances in Golden Age anthology applications these as Omnibus and Goodyear Playhouse, Kirby grew to become a common presence on episodic Television set in the 1960s, with roles on The Patty Duke Present, I Dream of Jeannie, Auto 54, Exactly where Are You? and The Defenders.

His Television job continued by the 1970s and ’80s with roles on sitcoms (The Doris Day Demonstrate, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Exhibit, Chico and the Guy, Alice, among some others), dramedies (Home 222, M*A*S*H, Barney Miller) and dramas, specializing in participating in cops and detectives on such series as Health care Center, Toma, Kojak, Shannon, Lou Grant, Hunter and In the Heat of the Evening.

Kirby performed numerous roles in the very long-working Peter Falk collection Columbo, most notably his run as the show’s Sgt. Kramer. From 1986-91, Kirby recurred on L.A. Law as D.A. Bruce Rogoff, and in the early 1980s he was cast as Officer Schmidt in the San Francisco-based mostly crime drama Shannon.

Other Tv set credits include The Rockford Documents, Matlock, Hill Road Blues, The Golden Women, Chicago Hope and, in the 2000s, The Sopranos, The West Wing and, in two of his last appearances, Numb3rs and Scrubs.

Even though Television roles dominated his occupation, Kirby also designed appearances in this sort of element movies as the 1971 Don Knotts auto How to Frame A Figg, the 1985 Patsy Cline biopic Sweet Goals (in which he played Tv set character Arthur Godfrey), 1986’s Stand By Me and the 1993 Matt Dillon comedy Mr. Amazing.

In 2004, Kirby reteamed with Dillon for just one of his most unforgettable major-screen roles, taking part in the father of Dillon’s shady cop in the Best Image Oscar-winning Crash.

On Broadway, Kirby was highlighted as Uncle Ben in the substitution cast of 1984’s Loss of life of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman.

Bruno Kirby, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 57, followed his father into acting, with roles in The Godfather: Aspect II, When Harry Me Sally…, Town Slickers, The Larry Sanders Display, This Is Spinal Tap, Fantastic Early morning Vietnam and several other people. Like his father, he produced appearances on M*A*S*H, Columbo, Kojak, Space 222 and Hill Avenue Blues.

On his Facebook tribute, John Kirby wrote, “My father cherished performing and apart from his incredible experienced vocation in tv, film & theater, he never stopped working on it from his early yrs in New York on scholarship with Lee Strasberg for 9 years, LA’s Theatre East & The Actors Studio. It was very agonizing for him when he no for a longer period could accomplish. I am so happy his great get the job done will live on…

“He was a excellent father who liked Bruno and me and as a family he designed it his small business for us to tour in these skilled Summertime Inventory deals, some thing we would all search ahead to every single summer…I’m happy you’re up there with Bruno and so several of our cherished types.”

In addition to son John, Kirby is survived by wife Rosalyn.