Jerry Orbach
December 29, 2004
Jerry Orbach, who played Detective Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order, passed away today.
I don’t often react to celebrity deaths, but I am saddened over Orbach’s passing. I probably watch 5 hours of Law & Order every week, and I love his character. But many of you probably know Orbach had a long and varied career—he was indeed a star of stage and screen. A song and dance man, he starred in Broadway shows including “Chicago” and “42nd Street” and won a Tony Award for his role in “Promises, Promises.” More recently, he was the voice of the candlestick Lumiere in Disney’s animated “Beauty and the Beast” (a video I saw 40,000 times when my boys were little, and I barely tolerated, but it was a kick to listen to Orbach).
I will always remember Orbach for a really chilling role as the mobbed-up Jack Rosenthal in Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” He only appears in a few scenes, opposite Martin Landau, who plays his successful and wealthy brother. But the few scenes, to my thinking, are perfectly done.
So a sad goodbye to Jerry Orbach—song and dance man, Hollywood character actor, and television star. You will be missed.
UPDATE: The Boston Globe is running a nice obit, written by Frazier Moore of the Associated Press. And there is a great roundup of coverage at The Gothamist.
Posted by Bill Trippe at December 29, 2004 12:52 PM
