Bruce MacVittie, ubiquitous actor, dies at 65

Bruce MacVittie, one of New York City’s quintessential character actors, who made his Broadway debut in David Mamets American Buffalo opposite Al Pacino in 1983 and was a mainstay on Off Broadway stages for more 40, as well as a familiar face on TV and in film, died May 7 in Manhattan. He was 65 years old.

His wife, Carol Ochs, confirmed the death, at a hospital, but said the cause had not been determined.

Mr. MacVittie excelled at playing badass with tormented souls, revealing a tenderness at the heart of his characterizations. His type of casting was low-life and street-smart, but he himself ran into rarefied acting circles. In the mid-1980s, he participated in the foundation naked angelsa cast of young film and theater hipsters (including Matthew Broderick and Marisa Tomei) who immediately dazzled New York with the celebrity power and social awareness of their theatrical endeavours.

Naked Angels was the club too cool to let me in, actress Edie Falco recalled in an interview. I was just hanging around, dying to get my foot in the door, but Bruce was already there. Bruce and I went through our acting struggles together. We were young together and we grew older together.

Mr. MacVitties’ career began in 1980 at the Ensemble Studio Theater in Manhattan with a starring role in Edward Allan Bakers Whats So Beautiful About a Sunset Over Prairie Avenue?

In 1988, after small roles in the series Barney Miller and Miami Vice, he landed his first big job on television, teaming up with Stanley Tucci in The Street, a veritable slice of life as a blue-collar cop set in the Newark Police Department. Claiming to be the first television series filmed entirely in New Jersey, the series churned out 40 episodes in 40 days but only lasted one season. Still, it cast a stylistic shadow over future TV crime dramas.

Bruce’s background was from a working-class background, like me, said Frances McDormand, another longtime friend. There was something about celebrating that in our work that was important to both of us. Bruce had a pride where he came from that he carried with him and was even arrogant. It was very charismatic.

Bruce James MacVittie was born in Providence, RI on October 14, 1956. His father, John James MacVittie, was a laborer at the Narragansett Electric Company; his mother Olive (Castergine) MacVittie, was a homemaker.

Bruce grew up in Cranston, RI, where he began acting in high school, and later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Boston University. He moved to New York in 1979. Four years later, after dubbing for the role of Bobby in the Pacino revival of American Buffalo, Mr. MacVittie took over the role on Broadway and eventually performed it at a national tour and in London’s West End.

Bruce wore this currency, especially for young actors then, like me, who had worked on stage with Pacino, actor Bobby Cannavale recalled. The fact that he was elevated to this cover role made him even more heroic.

In 2011, after more than 75 film and television appearances, including 11 different roles in various Law and Order franchises, guest spots in The Sopranos, Sex in the City and Homicide, countless theatrical roles, such as his acclaimed performance as a displaced Cuban immigrant in Eduardo Machados Havana is Waiting, 10 seasons at the Eugene ONeill Center Playwrights Conference in Connecticut and an equal number of summers at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts, Mr. MacVittie has set aside his acting career to train as a nurse. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Hunter College in Manhattan in 2013.

Besides his wife, he is survived by his daughter, Sophia Oliva Ochs MacVittie. Her first marriage ended in divorce. He lived in Manhattan.

Mr MacVittie returned to acting in his later years, including a starring role in the Ava DuVernays-acclaimed Netflix series The Way They See Us. He confines his nursing activities to palliative care of friends in need .

I loved Bruce MacVittie, Mr. Pacino said in an interview. His performances were always scintillating and crackling; a heart and a joy to watch. He was the epitome of the struggling New York actor and he made it work. We will miss him.