He was a jazz and rock drummer in many bands, including two years with Max Merritt & The Meteors in Sydney, Quincy Conserve,[1] Blerta, and The Crocodiles.

[3] A remarkable show, it was repeated in 1990, this time with Vince Jones on vocals, Dave Addis on saxophone, Jonathan Crayford on piano, Rolf Stube on bass and added the New Zealand String Quartet.

Playing the former race car driver who leaves with his daughter after the breakdown of his marriage, Bruno won an award at the Manila Film Festival, and acclaim from American critic Pauline Kael.

Further acclaim came with his leading role as the lone scientist in Geoff Murphy's end-of-the-world tale, The Quiet Earth (1985), for which Bruno also helped write the script.

He had earlier acted in Murphy's Utu (1983), about the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s, and cameoed in his breakthrough film Goodbye Pork Pie (1981).

Bruno's Australian roles included Anthony Hopkins movie Spotswood (aka The Efficiency Expert), Colleen McCullough adaptation An Indecent Obsession (playing a blind man), and 1986 miniseries The Great Bookie Robbery (playing gun-loving robber Cracka Park).