Jerry Orbach
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| Jerry Orbach | |||||||||||
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 Jerry Orbach, 2002 |
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| Born | October 20, 1935 Bronx, New York |
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| Died | December 28, 2004 (aged 69) New York City, New York |
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| Spouse(s) | Marta Curro (1958-1975) Elaine Cancilla (1979-2004) |
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Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American award-winning actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and for his musical theater roles.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Orbach was born 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.[1] His father was Jewish (of Sephardic ancestry) and his mother a Pennsylvania-born Polish American Catholic, and Orbach was raised Catholic.[2][3] Throughout his childhood, Orbach moved frequently: Mount Vernon, New York; Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke, and Scranton, Pennsylvania; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Waukegan, Illinois. He studied drama at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University. He then went to New York, where he studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.
[edit] Career
Orbach was an accomplished Broadway and off-Broadway actor. His first major role was that of El Gallo in the original cast of the decades-running hit The Fantasticks. He also starred in Carnival!, the musical version of the movie Lili. He also starred in a revival of Guys and Dolls (Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical), Promises, Promises (Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical), the original productions of Chicago (Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical) and 42nd Street, and a revival of The Cradle Will Rock. He made his film debut in 1955 in an uncredited bit part in the movie version of Guys and Dolls[4] - he plays a barber shop customer during the musical number, "The Oldest Established" and is given a solo during one of the song's "Nathan, Nathan Detroit!!" choruses. Orbach made occasional film and TV appearances into the 1970s.
In the 1980s, he shifted to film and TV work on a more full-time basis. Prominent roles included: a corrupt police detective in Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City; Jennifer Grey's father in Dirty Dancing; a cold-blooded killer in the Woody Allen drama Crimes and Misdemeanors; and the voice of the candelabra Lumière in Disney's animated musical Beauty and the Beast (a character he would reprise in every video sequel, as well as the House of Mouse TV series). He also appeared in the game show Super Password as a contestant. He starred in the short-lived 1987 crime drama The Law and Harry McGraw, in a role he later reprised as a regular guest star on Murder, She Wrote.
In 1991, he appeared as a defense attorney in the Law & Order episode "The Wages of Love". A year later he later joined the main cast of Law & Order as wisecracking police detective Lennie Briscoe. He remained on the show for twelve years (1992-2004) and became one of the series' most popular characters. He also voice acted the character for the video game spin-offs of the series. Orbach was signed to continue in the role on Law & Order: Trial by Jury, but appeared in only the first two episodes of the series. Both episodes aired in March 2005, after his death. The fifth episode of the series, "Baby Boom", was dedicated to his memory.
[edit] Personal life
Orbach was married in 1958 to Marta Curro, with whom he had two sons, Anthony Nicholas and Christopher Ben; they divorced in 1975. In 1979, he married Broadway dancer Elaine Cancilla, whom he met while starring in Chicago.
Orbach lived in a high-rise off Eighth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen and was a fixture in that Manhattan 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 had been met with some resistance by local planning boards, but these were overcome due to his popularity and love of the Big Apple.[5]
In early December 2004, it was announced that Orbach had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer since spring 2004; he died at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York on December 28, 2004. Orbach was 69 years old. His agent, Robert Malcolm, announced at the time of his death that Orbach's prostate cancer had been diagnosed more than 10 years before. The day after his death, the marquees on Broadway were dimmed in mourning, one of the highest honors of the American theatre world.
In addition to his sons and both wives, Orbach was survived by his mother.
One of his wishes while he was alive was to have his eyes 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.[6] Orbach's likeness has been used in an ad campaign for Eye Bank for Sight Restoration in Manhattan. His interment was located at Trinity Church Cemetery.
[edit] Honors
Orbach was named a "Living Landmark", along with fellow Law & Order castmate Sam Waterston, by the New York Landmarks Conservancy in 2002. He 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.
On September 18, 2007, a portion of 53rd Street, near Eighth Avenue, in New York City, was renamed in Orbach's honor as Jerry Orbach Way.[7]
Also in 2007, the Jerry Orbach Theatre was named for him in the Snapple Theater Center in New York City. The naming occurred as a tribute to him during a revival of The Fantasticks at the theatre.
On November 14, 2007, Orbach was incorporated into the skit "Phone Calls From Beyond The Grave" at a live show of the rock band They Might Be Giants at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. He supposedly contacted singer John Linnell on stage to perform a duet, (really guitarist John Flansburgh from backstage), and inquired about how to get "the ladies" in the afterlife. He was then mentioned in the song "Particle Man" in an improvised new verse by Linnell.
[edit] Work
[edit] Stage
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[edit] References
- ^ Jerry Orbach Biography (1935-)
- ^ JS Online: Fame finally catches up with 'L&O's' Orbach
- ^ Jerry Orbach; His `Law & Order' Role Fits Him Like a Glove - The Washington Post - HighBeam Research
- ^ Jerry Orbach
- ^ NY Times article 3/7/07
- ^ Eye Bank advertising campaign information, retrieved 2007-01-12.
- ^ Street renamed in Orbach's honor
[edit] External links
- Jerry Orbach at Find A Grave
- Jerry Orbach at the Internet Broadway Database
- Jerry Orbach at the Internet Movie Database
- Jerry Orbach obituary (The Washington Post)
- Biography and Interview from "Broadway; The American Musical"
- Jerry Orbach sings "Try to remember"
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