Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his death as "one of the last" bona fide" leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television" and a "versatile stage and film actor". Orbach's professional career began on the New York stage, both on and off-Broadway, where he created roles such as El Gallo in the original off-Broadway run of "The Fantasticks" (1960) and became the first performer to sing that show's standard "Try to Remember", Billy Flynn in the  original "Chicago" (1975–1977), and Julian Marsh in "42nd Street" (1980–1985). Nominated for multiple Tony Awards, Orbach won for his performance as Chuck Baxter in "Promises, Promises" (1968–1972). Later in his career, Orbach played supporting roles in films such as "Prince of the City" (1981), "Dirty Dancing" (1987), "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989), and Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). He also made frequent guest appearances on television, including a recurring role on "Murder, She Wrote" as private detective Harry McGraw between 1985 and 1991, and was the voice of Zachary Foxx in "The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers" in 1986 . He gained worldwide fame for his starring role as NYPD Detective Lennie Briscoe on the original "Law & Order" series from 1992 to 2004. Early life. Orbach was born on October 20, 1935, in the Bronx, the only child of Emily Orbach (née Olexy), a greeting card manufacturer and radio singer, and Leon Orbach, a restaurant manager and vaudeville performer. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Hamburg, Germany. Orbach stated that his father was descended from Sephardic Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. His mother, a native of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, was a Roman Catholic of Polish-Lithuanian descent, and  Orbach was raised in her faith (a religious background later replicated in his character on "Law & Order"). Throughout his childhood, the Orbach family moved frequently, living in Mount Vernon, New York; Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke, and Scranton, Pennsylvania; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Waukegan, Illinois. Orbach attended Waukegan High School in Illinois and graduated in 1952 (having skipped two grades in elementary school due to his high IQ of 163). He played on the football team and began learning acting in a speech class. The summer after graduating from high school, Orbach worked at the theatre of Chevy Chase Country Club of Wheeling , Illinois, and enrolled at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the fall. In 1953, Orbach returned to the Chicago area and enrolled at Northwestern University. Orbach left Northwestern before his senior year and moved to New York City in 1955 to pursue acting and to study at the Actors Studio, where one of his instructors was the studio's founder, Lee Strasberg. Career. Orbach would go on to become an accomplished Broadway and off-Broadway actor. His first major role was El Gallo in the original 1960 cast of the decades-running hit "The Fantasticks," and Orbach became the  first to perform the show's signature song and pop standard "Try To Remember". He also starred in "The Threepenny Opera"; "Carnival!", the musical version of the movie "Lili" (his Broadway debut); in revivals of "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Guys and Dolls" (as Sky Masterson, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical); "Promises, Promises" (as Chuck Baxter, winning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical); the original productions of "Chicago" (as Billy Flynn, receiving another Tony Award nomination); "42nd Street"; and a revival of "The Cradle Will Rock". Orbach made occasional film  and TV appearances into the 1970s and appeared as a celebrity panelist on both "What's My Line?" and "Super Password". In the 1980s, Orbach shifted to film and TV work full-time. Prominent roles included tough, corrupt NYPD narcotics detective Gus Levy in Sidney Lumet's "Prince of the City"; he was the 1981 runner-up for the NSFC Best Supporting Actor award. He also portrayed gangsters in both the action-thriller "F/X" and the Woody Allen drama "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (the latter of which also featured his future "Law & Order" co-star Sam Waterston). In 1985, Orbach  became a regular guest star on "Murder, She Wrote" as private detective Harry McGraw, which led to him starring in the short-lived spin-off series "The Law & Harry McGraw". In 1987, he was featured in the hit film "Dirty Dancing" as Dr. Jake Houseman, the father of Jennifer Grey's character "Baby". He made further TV appearances on popular shows such as "The Golden Girls" (for which he received his first Emmy nomination), "Who's the Boss?", and "Frasier" (as a guest caller). In 1991, Orbach starred in Disney's Oscar-winning animated musical "Beauty and the Beast" as  the voice (both singing and speaking) of the French-accented candelabrum Lumière, which he played "halfway between Maurice Chevalier and Pepé Le Pew". At the 64th Academy Awards, Orbach performed a live-action stage rendition of the Oscar-nominated song, "Be Our Guest", that he sang in "Beauty and the Beast". He later reprised his voice role of Lumière for the film's direct-to-video sequels, multiple episodes of "Disney's House of Mouse", and the previously-deleted song ("Human Again") that was added to the "Beauty and the Beast" 2002 IMAX re-release. In 1992, Orbach joined the  main cast of "Law & Order" during its third season as the world-weary, wisecracking NYPD homicide detective Lennie Briscoe. He had previously guest-starred as a defense attorney on the series, and was subsequently cast as the new "senior detective" following Paul Sorvino's departure. Orbach's portrayal of Briscoe was based on his similar role from "Prince of the City" years before, which "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf had personally suggested to him at the time of his casting. Orbach starred on "Law & Order" for 11-and-a-half seasons, ultimately becoming the third longest-serving main cast member  (behind S. Epatha Merkerson and Sam Waterston) in the show's 20-year-run history, as well as one of its most popular. During Orbach's tenure on "Law & Order", the series won the 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series among other accolades, made multiple crossover episodes with fellow NBC series "", and spawned a franchise that included the TV film "", the spin-off series "" and "" (both of which featured Orbach in guest appearances), and three video games. Orbach himself was nominated for a 2000 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (losing to James  Gandolfini for "The Sopranos"). "TV Guide" named Lennie Briscoe one of their top-25 greatest television detectives of all time. Also during his time on "Law & Order", Orbach provided the voice of the main antagonist Sa'luk in the 1996 direct-to-video film "Aladdin and the King of Thieves", and co-starred with Al Pacino in the independent film "Chinese Coffee", which was filmed in the summer of 1997 and released three years later. Personal life. Orbach was married in 1958 to Marta Curro, with whom he had two sons, Anthony Nicholas and Christopher Benjamin. They divorced in 1975. Elder son  Tony is a construction manager and an accomplished crossword puzzle constructor who has published more than 25 puzzles in "The New York Times". Younger son Chris Orbach is an actor and a singer; he played Lennie Briscoe's nephew Ken Briscoe during the first season of "Special Victims Unit". In 1979, Jerry Orbach married Broadway dancer Elaine Cancilla, whom he met while starring in "Chicago". Orbach lived in a high-rise on 53rd Street off Eighth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen and was a fixture in that neighborhood's restaurants and shops. His glossy publicity photo hangs in Ms. Buffy 's French Cleaners, and he was a regular at some of the Italian restaurants nearby. As of 2007, the intersection of 8th Avenue and 53rd Street was renamed in honor of Orbach. The plans met with some resistance by local planning boards, but were overcome thanks to his popularity and his love of the Big Apple. Illness and death. In January 1994, less than two years into his stint on "Law & Order", Orbach was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He initially received radiation therapy as treatment, but by December 1994, the cancer had returned and metastasized. At that point, he went  on hormone therapy, on which he remained over the next decade while he continued to star on "Law & Order". Following his departure from the series at the end of the 2003-04 season, Orbach underwent chemotherapy, but he ultimately succumbed to his cancer on December 28, 2004, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York at age 69. Despite being diagnosed with the cancer more than a decade before his death, Orbach's illness was not revealed to the general public until just weeks before he died. Prior to his death, Orbach was signed to continue in the  role of Lennie Briscoe on the new spin-off "", which was to accommodate his illness by giving him a lighter schedule than he had had on the original series, but he was only featured in the first two episodes, both of which aired following his death. The day after Orbach's death, the marquees on Broadway were dimmed in mourning, one of the highest honors of the American theatre world, while NBC re-aired the "Law & Order" episode "C.O.D." (the last episode of the original series to feature Orbach) in honor of him. The "Criminal Intent" episode "View from Up  Here" and the "Trial by Jury" episode "Baby Boom" were dedicated to Orbach, and the "Law & Order" episode "Mammon" featured a pictorial memorial of him. In addition to his sons, wife, and former wife, Orbach was survived by his mother and two grandchildren, Peter and Sarah Kate Orbach, children of his older son Tony. His mother died on July 28, 2012, at the age of 101. His wife Elaine died in 2009 at age 69, and his former wife Marta died in 2012 at age 79. Having had perfect 20/20 vision his whole life, Jerry Orbach requested that his eyes  be donated after his death. His wish was granted when two individuals – one who needed correction for a nearsighted eye and another who needed correction for a farsighted eye – received Orbach's corneas. His likeness has been used in an ad campaign for Eye Bank for Sight Restoration in Manhattan. Orbach was interred at Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum in upper Manhattan. Honors and legacy. In addition to his Tony Award and nominations, Jerry Orbach is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1999. In 2002, Orbach was named a "Living Landmark" by  the New York Landmarks Conservancy, along with his "Law & Order" co-star Sam Waterston. Orbach quipped that the honor meant "that they can't tear me down." On February 5, 2005, he was posthumously awarded a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for his longtime role on "Law & Order". His wife Elaine accepted the award on his behalf. On September 18, 2007, a portion of New York City's 53rd Street near Eighth Avenue was renamed 'Jerry Orbach Way' in his honor. Also in 2007, the Jerry Orbach Theatre was named  for him in the Snapple Theater Center at 50th Street and Broadway in New York City. The naming occurred as a tribute to him during a revival of "The Fantasticks" at the theatre. Remembrances After "Law & Order" was cancelled in 2010, executive producer René Balcer was quoted by "The Wall Street Journal": "I always think about the show as before Jerry and after Jerry... You saw the weariness of 25 years of crime-fighting in New York written on his face." Author Kurt Vonnegut was a fan of Orbach, and during an Australian radio interview in 2005, he said, "People  have asked me, you know, 'Who would you rather be, than yourself?'," and he replied "Jerry Orbach, without a question... I talked to him one time, and he's adorable." "New York Times" writers Ben Brantley and Richard Severo analyzed the breadth and scope of Orbach's career: Whether singing "Try to Remember" as the dashing narrator of "The Fantasticks" in 1960 or trading barbs with fellow detectives and reluctant witnesses on television in recent years, Mr. Orbach exuded a wry, ragged masculinity that was all his own. As a star of musicals, he created a new kind of hero  who was leagues away from suave, swaggering Adonises like John Raitt, Howard Keel, and Alfred Drake... And he flourished at a time when the Broadway musical hero was fast becoming an endangered species... His rough-edged individuality may account for his endurance on the Broadway stage in an era when other promising musical actors - including Larry Kert, Robert Goulet, and Robert Morse - proved unable to follow through on their breakthrough successes. Mr. Orbach may have been the last of a breed: no male star since has matched the breadth and continuity of his career in musicals... It wasn't until  the 1990s, when he started appearing as Lennie Briscoe in "Law & Order," that Mr. Orbach became a familiar name throughout the country. The rough edge that distinguished him on Broadway eased his transition to character roles like Briscoe, the recovered alcoholic who seemed to greet the discovery of each episode's crime with a world-weary shrug. "Dirty Dancing" co-star Patrick Swayze memorialized Orbach after his death: Jerry Orbach has been one of the most successful actors who ever lived to make that transition from musical theatre into real, organic, break-your-heart kinds of reality in his work  as a film actor, but transition back and forth seamlessly... it was a very interesting time for me, when I was shooting "Dirty Dancing", I think probably the eyes I trusted if I was real, and it worked, and I had nailed it, [were] Jerry Orbach's eyes. I would go over to him and under my breath "What did you think?" and he goes "No, go there further, I think there's more you can get." He would say little things like "courage", and it gives me goosebumps to say that. I really, really respected that man. I watched  his career from the time I was little. I think it was a great loss when he passed.