Jerry Orbach

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Jerry Orbach
Jerry Orbach 1965 press photo.JPG
Orbach in a 1965 publicity photo
Born Jerome Bernard Orbach
(1935-10-20)October 20, 1935
Bronx, New York, U.S.
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
New York, New York, U.S.
Cause of death Prostate cancer
Occupation Actor, singer
Years active 1955–2004
Spouse(s) Marta Curro (1958–1975; divorced; 2 children)
Elaine Cancilla (1979–2004; his death)
Children Anthony Nicholas
Christopher Benjamin

Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at his death as "one of the last bona fide leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television"[1] and a "versatile stage and film actor".[2]

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";[3] Billy Flynn in the original Chicago (1975-1977), and Julian Marsh in the original 42nd Street (1980-1985). Nominated for multiple Tony Awards, Orbach won for his performance as Chuck Baxter in Promises, Promises (1968-1972).[4]

Later in his career, Orbach played supporting roles in various films; such as Prince of the City (1981), Dirty Dancing (1987), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991).[5] He also made frequent guest appearances on television; including a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote (1985-1991). However, he gained worldwide fame for his starring role as NYPD Detective Lennie Briscoe on the long-running NBC crime drama Law & Order (1992-2004).[6]

Early life

Orbach was born on October 20, 1935, in the Bronx, the only child of Emily (née Olexy), a greeting card manufacturer and radio singer, and Leon Orbach, a restaurant manager and vaudeville performer.[7] His father was a Sephardic Jewish immigrant from Hamburg, Germany.[8][9] His mother, a native of 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).[10][11][12] 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.[5]).[13][14] He played on the football team and began learning acting in a speech class.[15] 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 at 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.[15]

Career

Orbach (right) as Billy Flynn in the original 1975 Broadway production of Chicago

Orbach was 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".[16] He also starred in The Threepenny Opera, Carnival!, the musical version of the movie Lili (his Broadway debut), in a revival of 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 a superb performance as tough, effective, but "allegedly 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 and 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 also made further TV appearances on popular shows such as The Golden Girls (for which he received his first Emmy nomination[5]), Who's the Boss?, and Frasier.

Orbach as Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order

In 1991, Orbach starred in Disney's Academy Award-winning animated musical Beauty and the Beast, as the voice (both singing and speaking) of the French-accented candelabrum Lumière, which according to Orbach was played "halfway between Maurice Chevalier and Pepé Le Pew".[5] 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.[17][18] 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.[19][20] In 1992, Orbach joined the main ensemble cast of Law & Order as the world-weary, wisecracking, streetwise 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.[6] Orbach's portrayal of Detective 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.[5]

Orbach starred on Law & Order for 12 years, 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.[21] 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 Homicide: Life on the Street, and spawned a franchise that included the TV film Exiled: A Law & Order Movie, the spin-off series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (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.[22] Also during his time on Law & Order, Orbach co-starred with Al Pacino in the independent film Chinese Coffee, which was filmed in the summer of 1997 and released three years later.[5]

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 crossword puzzle constructor for The New York Times and also guest starred on the Law & Order episode "Doubles" as a reporter. Younger son Chris Orbach, who is an actor and singer, 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.[23] 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.[24]

Death

In January 1994 (less than two years into his stint on Law & Order), Orbach was diagnosed with prostate cancer.[5] 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 until the treatment ran out in March 2004.[5] Following his departure from Law & Order that year, Orbach went through 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).[2] 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.[25] Prior to his death, Orbach was signed to continue in the role of Lennie Briscoe on the new spin-off Law & Order: Trial by Jury (which was to accommodate his illness by giving him a lighter workload than he had on the original series), but he was only featured in the first two episodes of the series (both of which aired in March 2005, after his death).[5]

The day after Orbach's death, the marquees on Broadway were dimmed in mourning, one of the highest honors of the American theatre world,[5] 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"[5] 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.[26] 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 while he was alive that his eyes be donated after his death.[5] 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. The interment of his remains was at Trinity Church Cemetery.[5]

Honors

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.[27] In 2002, Orbach was named a "Living Landmark" by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, along with his Law & Order co-star Sam Waterston.[28] Orbach quipped that the honor meant "that they can't tear me down."[11]

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.[29]

On September 18, 2007, a portion of New York City's 53rd Street near Eighth Avenue was renamed 'Jerry Orbach Way' in his honor.[30]

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.

From others

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."[31]

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."[32]

New York Times writers Ben Brantley and Richard Servero 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.[33]

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.[34]

Filmography

Stage

Year Title Role Notes
1955-1961 The Threepenny Opera Streetsinger
1960 The Fantasticks El Gallo
1961-1963 Carnival! Paul the Pupetteer
1964 The Cradle Will Rock Larry Foreman
1965 Guys and Dolls Sky Masterson Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical
1965 Carousel Jigger Craigin
1966 Annie Get Your Gun Charlie Davenport
1967 The Natural Look Malcolm
1967 Scuba Duba Harold Wonder
1968-1972 Promises, Promises Chuck Baxter Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
1972-1973 6 Rms Riv Vu Paul Friedman
1975-1977 Chicago Billy Flynn Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
1980-1985 42nd Street Julian Marsh Nominated - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1955 Guys and Dolls Barbershop extra Uncredited
1955 Marty Ballroom extra Uncredited
1958 Cop Hater Gang Leader- "Mumzer"
1961 Mad Dog Coll Joe Clegg
1964 Ensign Pulver Unknown
1965 John Goldfarb, Please Come Home Pinkerton
1971 The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight Kid Sally
1972 A Fan's Notes Fred
1975 Fore Play Jerry Lorsey
1977 The Sentinel Michael Dayton
1981 Underground Aces Herbert Penlittle
1981 Prince of the City Det. Gus Levy Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (2nd place)
Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (3rd place)
1985 Brewster's Millions Charlie Pegler
1986 The Imagemaker Byron Caine
1986 F/X Nicolas DeFranco
1987 Dirty Dancing Dr. Jake Houseman
1987 Someone to Watch Over Me Lt. Garber
1987 I Love N.Y. Leo
1989 Last Exit to Brooklyn Boyce
1989 Crimes and Misdemeanors Jack Rosenthal
1991 Dead Women in Lingerie Bartoli
1991 California Casanova Constantin Rominoffski
1991 Out for Justice Capt. Ronnie Dozinger
1991 Toy Soldiers Albert Trotta Uncredited
1991 Delusion Larry
1991 Delirious Lou Sherwood
1991 Beauty and the Beast Lumière (voice)
1992 A Gnome Named Gnorm Unknown
1992 Straight Talk Milo Jacoby
1992 Universal Soldier Dr. Christopher Gregor
1992 Mr. Saturday Night Phil Gussman
1993 The Cemetery Club Unknown Uncredited
1996 Aladdin and the King of Thieves Sa'luk (voice) Direct-to-video
1997 Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas Lumière (voice) Direct-to-video
1998 Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World Lumière (voice) Direct-to-video
1999 Temps Announcer
2000 The Acting Class Unknown
2000 Chinese Coffee Jake Manheim
2000 Prince of Central Park Businessmes
2002 Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition Lumière (voice) IMAX release
2002 Manna from Heaven Waltz Contest Announcer
2003 Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There Himself
2003 Try to Remember: The Fantasticks Himself
2003 Mickey's PhilharMagic Lumière (voice) Short film
2004 Protesters Police Investigator

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1961 Twenty-Four Hours in a Woman's Life Cristoff Television film
1967 Annie Get Your Gun Charles Davenport Television film
1973 Love, American Style Homer Episode: "Love and the Hoodwinked Honey"
1975 Medical Center Josh Episode: "The Captives"
1975 Kojak Brubaker Episode: "A Question of Answers"
1980 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Lars Mangros Episode: "Space Rockers"
1983 The Magic of Herself the Elf King Thorn (voice) Television film
1983 An Invasion of Privacy Sam Bianchi Television film
1985 Our Family Honor Brian Merrick 2 episodes
1985-1991 Murder, She Wrote Harry McGraw 6 episodes
1986 Dream West Capt. John Stutter Television film
1986 The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers Zachary Foxx (voice) 7 episodes
1987 Tales from the Darkside Robert Episode: "Everybody Needs a Little Love"
1987 Out on a Limb Mort Viner Television film
1987 Love Among Thieves Spicer Television film
1987-1988 The Law and Harry McGraw Harry McGraw 16 episodes
1988 Simon & Simon Harrison/Malcolm Stanley III Episode: "Ain't Gonna Get It From Me, Jack"
1989 Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder Blaine Counter Television film
1989 The Flamingo Kid Phil Brody
1990 Hunter Sal Scarlatti Episode: "Son and Heir"
1990 The Golden Girls Glen O'Brien Episode: "Cheaters"
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
1990 Who's the Boss? Nick Episode: "Starlight Memories"
1990 Kojak: None So Blind Tony Salducci Television film
1990 In Defense of a Married Man Alan Michaelson Television film
1991 Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter Vic St. John Television film
1991 Law & Order Frank Lehrmann Episode: "The Wages of Love"
1992 Empty Nest Arthur 2 episodes
1992 Neil Simon's Broadway Bound Jack Jerome Television film
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1992 Quiet Killer Dr. Vincent Califano Television film
1992 Mastergate Clifton Byers Television film
1992-2004 Law & Order Detective Leonard W. "Lennie" Briscoe 273 episodes
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (posthumously)
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1995-2004)
Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series (1998-2000)
1996 Frasier Mitch Episode: "High Crane Drifter"
1996-1999 Homicide: Life on the Street Det. Lennie Briscoe 3 episodes
1998 Exiled: A Law & Order Movie Det. Lennie Briscoe Television film
1999-2000 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Det. Lennie Briscoe 3 episodes
2001 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Det. Lennie Briscoe Episode: "Poison"
2001-2002 Disney's House of Mouse Lumière (voice) 9 episodes
2005 Law & Order: Trial by Jury D.A. Investigator Lennie Briscoe 2 episodes

Video games

Year Title Role
2002 Law & Order: Dead on the Money Det. Lennie Briscoe
2003 Law & Order: Double or Nothing Det. Lennie Briscoe
2004 Law & Order: Justice is Served Det. Lennie Briscoe

Books

His love poems to his wife Elaine were published in Remember How I Love You: Love Letters from an Extraordinary Marriage (Touchstone, 2009).[35] Another biography, Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City: His Way From The Fantasticks to Law & Order by John Anthony Gilvey, was published on May 1, 2011.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Brantley, Ben; Severo, Richard. "Jerry Orbach, Stage and TV Actor, Is Dead at 69", The New York Times, December 30, 2004. Retrieved July 12, 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 [1] The Associated Press, 12/29/2004
  7. ↑ Jerry Orbach profile, filmreference.com; accessed January 16, 2014.
  8. ↑ Orbach had stated that his father was descended from Sephardic refugees from the Spanish Inquisition
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Reprinted in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on April 7, 1993 as "Orbach Gives `Law & Order` Seedy Side" and Bangor Daily News on March 6, 1993 as "Orbach likes new role as cynical cop."
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ [2]
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Beauty/beauty-beast-review.html
  21. ↑ [3] Sydney Morning Herald, 10/7/2004
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Brantley, Ben; Severo, Richard. "Jerry Orbach, Stage and TV Actor, Is Dead at 69", The New York Times, December 30, 2004. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  24. ↑ NY Times article 3/7/07
  25. ↑ [4] People, 12/2/2004
  26. ↑ Obituary for Jerry Orbach, New York Times; accessed January 16, 2014 at legacy.com archive online]
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ [5]. New York Landmarks Conservancy.
  29. ↑ http://sagawards.org/media-pr/press-releases/screen-actors-guild-honors-outstanding-film-and-television-performances-13--0
  30. ↑ Street renamed in Orbach's honor
  31. ↑ Chosick, Amy and Gamerman, Ellen."'Law & Order' School of Drama"The Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2010
  32. ↑ October 6, 2005. Kurt Vonnegut interviewed on ABC Radio National Audio by Phillip Adams. Available on the Slaughterhouse-Five Region 4 DVD, released by Umbrella Entertainment Pty Ltd in 2007
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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