Jerry Orbach

[shouldazagged]

Before his long, superb turn as the world-weary Detective Lenny Briscoe, this is just one of the many things Jerry Orbach did on the Broadway stage:

He created the role of Billy Flynn in "Chicago", and was the first to sing this number:

Jerry Orbach in Chicago-All I Care About - YouTube

He wasn't half bad in this revival, either--won a Tony nomination, I think.

42nd Street " Lullaby of Broadway " - YouTube

Very versatile guy. I hated seeing him leave us.

 

[max]

He will always be Lenny to me.

 

[shouldazagged]

He will always be Lenny to me.

Me too, really. That was a great role that he played wonderfully well. But he was a very versatile actor and a hell of a song-and-dance man.

 

[sipowicz]

For me he will always be Gus Levy in "Prince of the City" first and Jack Rosenthal second in "Crimes and Misdemeanors."

 

[Vegetaman]

He will always be Lenny to me.

Definitely.

 

[kaaskop49]

A very talented guy who also starred in 'The Fantasticks' and won a Tony for 'Promises, Promises.' Also played the doctor and father of the 'Baby' character in 'Dirty Dancing.'

 

[steveno]

he was pretty good in the first "F/X" movie

 

[JSW]

A very versatile actor.

 

[Engieman]

Loved watching Jerry on Law & Order.

True story - I retired after 37 years government service, my last twelve years in terminally political Washington, D.C. Came home one night after a particularly challenging, frustrating day and escaped by watching back to back Law and Order shows. In one scene, Jerry is questioning a suspect who rambling on and on with dribble. When he is done, Jerry looks at him and said in his typical style 'you have just wasted 15 minutes of my life I'll never get back.' Next day in a high level meeting I was replaying the scene in my head (looking attentive and engaged of course to others around the table) and thought....this is '15 minutes of wasted time I'll never get back (more like an hour or two). Had my papers in by the end of the week. Thanks Jerry!!!!

 

[ChuckS1]

He was also the voice of the candlestick character in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast". I guess you gotta have kids to know that one.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

I know him as the guy who made anti NRA wisecracks in his show. And worse yet, he stuck Baby in the corner! The NRA stuff aside, he was really good in everything I've seen him in and sad when he died.

 

[mjr]

For me he will always be Gus Levy in "Prince of the City" first and Jack Rosenthal second in "Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Yes. Oddly, those are about the only two movies I can remember that brought me to tears when I saw them.

I had just started dating the girl who became my wife when we saw "Prince of the City" in 1981. I'm not sure she ever understood why it affected me so. But we're still together.

 

[Krell1]

My daughter loved "Lenny". She's got an autographed picture of him hanging in her craft room. (Women have craft rooms, we have reloading benches)

 

[shouldazagged]

I know him as the guy who made anti NRA wisecracks in his show. And worse yet, he stuck Baby in the corner! The NRA stuff aside, he was really good in everything I've seen him in and sad when he died.

Well, he didn't write the dialogue.

After he died people he worked with on "Law And Order" learned he had been battling prostate cancer for ten years. Pretty gutsy guy, apparently.

 

[Ogandydancer]

Never heard of him until I saw hime in a couple of Murder She Wrote episodes where he played a alcoholic P I which almost ruined him to me but when he came to L&O you couldn't get any better. Like others have said he will always be Lenny to me. He was a great one.

 

[palmetto99]

I only knew him as Lenny. He left L&O to have his own show on NBC. Sad that he never got it. BTW, Lenny carried a model 36.