In Memory of Actor Jerry Orbach (TV's 'Law & Order'): Two Decades After His Tragic Death at only 69

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It's been two decades since Jerry Orbach passed away at 69 from prostate cancer. Best known from his role as Detective Lennie Briscoe on TV's edition of Law & Order, Orbach began his career in stage musicals on and off Broadway. He also made big-screen appearances in movies like edgy crime drama Prince of the City and the super hit romance Dirty Dancing. This is his story.

A Closer Look

Jerry Orhach was born in the Bronx in 1935, the son of a vaudeville-performer father and a radio-singer mother. He performed in school plays, then attended Northwestern University’s prestigious drama school in suburban Chicago.

Unable to afford the tuition, Orbach bowed out college before graduation, and returned to New York.

In the 1960s, Orbach officially commenced his showbiz career in hit Broadway musicals such as Carnival, Promises, Promises (for which he received a Tony), Chicago, and 42nd Street (his biggest hit).

In 1960, Orbach played the Narrator in the off-off-Broadway hit The Fantasticks, which went on to run for over four decades.

Among his film appearances were parts in Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, and the animated Beauty and the Beast, in which he voiced the role of the candlestick Lumiere, singing “Be Our Guest."

In 1958, he married to Marta Kuro, who he divorced in 1975, and with whom he had two sons. Four years later, he wed dancer Elaine Cancilla.

In 1981, he starred in Prince of the City, which ultimately inspired his role on TV's Law & Order.

Orbach’s initial TV series, The Law and Harry McGraw, did not do well. In this show, which was a spin-off from Murder, She Wrote, which starred his good friend Angela Lanbsury.

At his passing, Orbach's Detective Lennie Briscoe had relocated to NBC's Law & Order: Trial By Jury spin-off.

Lasting Impression

Beloved by fans from afar, and friends, colleages and family within his intimate circle, Jerry Orbach will forever be rembered as one of Hollywood most likable performers, on and off-screen.