Numero Bruno
Before Sacha Baron Cohen, it wasn’t a name you heard often. But when you did, it was hard to forget.
Bruno has got our number, all right, and not just because it’s the name of the title character in Sacha Baron Cohen’s new comedy, which opens Friday. Expect controversy. Such other Cohen creations as Ali G. and Borat seem positively innocuous by comparison.
Still, notoriety-wise, Cohen’s very gay Austrian fashion reporter has a lot to live up to. A long line of namesakes have preceded him, onscreen and off. Some Brunos have been noble (conductor Bruno Walter, novelist Bruno Schulz), but many more have been notorious. And at least one bears an alarming resemblance to Bruce Willis.
If the shoe fits
Prior to the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Bruno Magli was just another Italian shoemaker. Any guesses what brand of footwear Cohen’s Bruno might wear?
If the dance shoe fits
Perhaps the only person who could make Cohen’s fashionista look subdued, Bruno Tonioli has screamed his way to fame as the outrageous judge in the Simon Cowell seat on “Dancing With the Stars.’’
In the ring
Hulk Hogan? John Cena? Gorilla Monsoon? Please. The king of professional wrestling is, of course, a Bruno, Bruno Sammartino.
The most notorious
Bruno Convicted of the abduction and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., Bruno Richard Hauptmann was executed in 1936.
Crisscross
All right, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), in “Psycho,’’ is the all-time Hitchcock villain. But Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), in “Strangers on a Train,’’ runs him a close second.
He wants to live forever
In “Fame,’’ budding musical genius Bruno Martelli (Lee Curreri) demonstrates the limits of his talent - and earns a place in musical infamy - by composing the title song.
Up in smoke
Finding him guilty of heresy, the Catholic Church burned the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno at the stake.
The abuses of enchantment
Revered during his lifetime as an educator and psychiatrist, Bruno Bettelheim was accused after his death of being abusive toward children and falsifying credentials.
Fallen angel
True, Bruno Ganz plays one of the heavenly host in “Wings of Desire.’’ But he also plays Adolf Hitler in “Downfall.’’
Moonlighting
In 1987, Bruce Willis unveiled a singing alter ego in the HBO special “The Return of Bruno’’ and on an album of the same name. Can it be just a coincidence that Demi Moore married him that same year?
Chin music
Frank Bruno may be most famous for winning the World Boxing Council’s heavyweight championship in 1995. But he’s most notorious for recording a cover version of “Eye of the Tiger’’ that same year. It actually reached number 28 on the UK charts.
Swinging for the fences
Playing three-plus seasons with the Red Sox, right fielder Tom “Bruno’’ Brunansky struck out more than 300 times.
Wielding a mean scalpel
Even by “Nip/Tuck’’ standards, Dr. Quentin Costa (Bruno Campos) is a handful: drugs, bisexuality, incest, even certain, um, anatomical issues. What’s a plastic surgeon to do?
Fish food finder Bruno Tattaglia (Tony Giorgio) is one of the two mobsters who make sure Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes in “The Godfather.’’
Saddle up
His best-known role is as Billy Crystal’s and Daniel Stern’s pal in “City Slickers,’’ but surely Bruno Kirby’s greatest role is as young Clemenza in “The Godfather: Part II.’’
Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com. Scott Heller can be reached at sheller@globe.com. 
