Contact Jerry Orbach

Full Name:	Jerry Orbach
Birth Name:	Jerome Bernard Orbach
Famous As:	Actor
Date of Birth:	October 20, 1935
Place of Birth:	Bronx, New York City, USA
Height:	6' 2
Nationality:	American

• Jerry Orbach?s Love Poems To His Wife Were A+ Stuff

  Nerve.com - Found Nov. 17, 2009 When Jerry Orbach died in 2004 after a decade-long battle with prostate cancer, he left behind Elaine, his wife of 25 years, who survived him until

• "TV Dramas That Suck Years Out Of Your Life"

  The Daily Dish - Found Nov. 7, 2009 ... in any of its many incarnations) could be watched in whatever sequence one wished-you always knew Jerry Orbach's mordant one-liners would be...

• PERSUASION OR 7 YEARS BAD SEX Reading Held At The Jerry Orbach ...

  Broadway World - Found Sep. 29, 2009 ... romantic musical-dance comedy entitled 'Persuasion or 7 Years of Bad Sex' to be performed at the Jerry Orbach Theater in the Snapple Theater...

• Oprah's Leap From Series To Network Should Inspire These Five Shows ...

  MTV - Found Nov. 20, 2009 ... proof enough that a network packed to the brim with Chris Meloni, Sam Waterston and the late great Jerry Orbach would have a strong audience. Media Decoder: A Tearful Winfrey Explains Her Departure - New York Times Fans mourn end of 'Oprah' - CNN Teary Oprah Announces End of Show -- But Is the Time Really Right? - Time Can Oprah Still Be Queen of All Media Without Her Daytime Throne? - Time Explore All

  The Indy Channel

• TV Guide Network Gives Fans the Time of Their Lives This Christmas ...

  Reuters - Found Nov. 19, 2009 The film also stars Jerry Orbach and Cynthia Rhodes, with choreography by Kenny Ortega ('High School Musical,' 'This Is It'). TV Guide Network to Air Dirty Dancing Marathon on Christmas - Seattle Post Intelligencer Dueling Christmas movie marathons: 'A Christmas Story' vs. 'Dirty ... - St. Petersburg Times TV Guide Network to Air Dirty Dancing Marathon on Christmas - TV Guide Online TV Guide Network Gives Fans the Time of Their Lives This Christmas ... - Earthtimes.org Explore All

  St. Petersburg Times

• Photo Coverage: Remember How I Love You: Love Letters from an ...

  Broadway World - Found Nov. 14, 2009 The Jerry Orbach Theater currently houses The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical. The theater was so-named to commemorate Orbach... Elaine Stritch Will Sing Sondheim at the Carlyle in January 2010 - Playbill Explore All

• Top 25 Romantic Movies for the Over 50 Crowd

  Associated Content - Found Nov. 11, 2009 Castle and 'nobody puts Baby in the corner.' Jennifer Grey played Frances 'Baby' Houseman (pre-nose-job) and Jerry Orbach was her dad.22) 'No...

• Courteney Cox morphs from creep to cougar

  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Found Nov. 9, 2009 The following season, Dzundza left and was replaced by Paul Sorvino, who was replaced (in turn) by Jerry Orbach, Dennis Farina, Milena Govich and...

• Rivera, Alda, Bishop, Stiller and More Read Jerry Orbach's Words in ...

  Playbill - Found Nov. 9, 2009 Friends gather to remember and read the words of theatre couple Jerry and Elaine Orbach at the Snapple Theater Center on Nov. 9. The 5:30 PM benefit B.D. Wong, Annita Gillette & Robert Klein Join Starry 'I Love You: ... - Broadway World Explore All

• New This Week

  Baltimore City Paper Online - Found Nov. 9, 2009 ... drama as an ophthalmologist whose affair with a flight attendant (Anjelica Huston) causes him to turn to his mobbed-up brother (Jerry Orbach).

Jerry Orbach extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Jerry Orbach
Orbach in April 2002
Born	Jerome Bernard Orbach October 20, 1935(1935-10-20) Bronx, New York, United States
Died	December 28, 2004 (aged 69) Manhattan, New York, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1955–2004
Spouse(s)	Marta Curro (1958–1975) Elaine Cancilla (1979–2004)

Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor, well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, as well as for being a noted musical theatre star; most notably El Gallo in The Fantasticks, Julian Marsh in 42nd Street, and Billy Flynn in the original production of Chicago.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Honors 3 Work 3.1 Stage 3.2 Filmography 3.3 Television 4 Books 5 References 6 External links

Biography

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 from Hamburg, Germany (of Sephardic Jewish ancestry) and his mother was a Pennsylvania-born Polish American Catholic, and Orbach was raised Catholic (a religious background later replicated in his character on "Law and Order").²³ 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. He studied drama at University of Illinois and Northwestern University and then went to New York, where he studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

Career

Orbach was an accomplished Broadway and off-Broadway actor. His first major role was El Gallo in the original cast of the decades-running hit The Fantasticks. 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, receiving a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical), the original productions of Chicago (as Billy Flynn, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical), 42nd Street, and a revival of The Cradle Will Rock. In 1955, he played an uncredited bit part in the movie version of Guys and Dolls⁴ - 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; and a gangster who hires an assassin in the Woody Allen drama Crimes and Misdemeanors 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. He also appeared as a celebrity panelist on both What's My Line? and Super Password. He also guest starred on the sitcom The Golden Girls.

In 1991, Orbach starred in the Academy Award-winning animated musical Beauty and the Beast, as the voice of the candelabrum Lumière, a role he would reprise in the film's direct-to-video sequels. Also in 1991, he played a police captain in Steven Seagal's Out for Justice. That same year, Orbach appeared as a defense attorney in the Law & Order episode "The Wages of Love" and, a year later, he joined the main cast of Law & Order as world weary, wisecracking police detective (and recovering alcoholic) Lennie Briscoe. He remained with the show for 12 years (1992–2004) and became one of its most popular characters. TV Guide named Briscoe as one of their top 50 television detectives of all-time. 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.

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. In 1979, he 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 Manhattan neighborhood's restaurants and shops.⁵ 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.⁶

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.⁷ Orbach's likeness has been used in an ad campaign for Eye Bank for Sight Restoration in Manhattan. His interment was at Trinity Church Cemetery.

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."⁸

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.⁹

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.

Work

Stage

Broadway Carnival! (1961) Guys and Dolls (1965) Carousel (1965) Annie Get Your Gun (1966) The Natural Look (1967) Promises, Promises (1968) 6 Rms Riv Vu (1972) Chicago (1975) 42nd Street (1980)

Off-Broadway The Threepenny Opera (1955) (replacement for Rome Smith) The Fantasticks (1960) The Cradle Will Rock (1964 revival) Scuba Duba

Filmography Guys and Dolls (1955) Cop Hater (1958) Mad Dog Coll (1961) Ensign Pulver (1964) John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965) The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971) A Fan's Notes (1972) Fore Play (1975) The Sentinel (1977) Underground Aces (1981) Prince of the City (1981) The Special Magic of Herself the Elf (1983) (voice) Brewster's Millions (1985) The Imagemaker (1986) F/X (1986) Dirty Dancing (1987) Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) I Love N.Y. (1988) Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) Dead Women in Lingerie (1991) California Casanova (1991) Out for Justice (1991) Toy Soldiers (1991) Delusion (1991) Delirious (1991) Beauty and the Beast (1991) (voice) A Gnome Named Gnorm (1992) Straight Talk (1992) Universal Soldier (1992) Mr. Saturday Night (1992) The Cemetery Club (1993) Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) (voice) Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) (voice) Belle's Magical World (1998) (voice) Temps (1999) The Acting Class (2000) (cameo) Chinese Coffee (2000) Prince of Central Park (2000) Manna from Heaven (2002) Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary) Try to Remember: The Fantasticks (2003) (documentary) Mickey's PhilharMagic (2003) (short subject) (voice) Kingdom Hearts II (2005) (video game) (archive recording)

Television Twenty-Four Hours in a Woman's Life (1961) Annie Get Your Gun (1967) Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1980) (guest star) - Lars Mangros Neil Simon's Plaza Suite (1982) The Special Magic of Herself the Elf (1983) An Invasion of Privacy (1983) Murder, She Wrote (1985–1991) – Harry McGraw Dream West (1986) (miniseries) The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1986) (animated) Out on a Limb (1987) Love Among Thieves (1987) Tales from the Darkside (1987) (guest star) – Robert The Law and Harry McGraw (1987–1988) – Harry McGraw Simon & Simon (1988) (guest star) – Harrison / Malcolm Shanley III Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder (1989) The Flamingo Kid (1989) Kojak: None So Blind (1990) The Golden Girls (1990) – Glen O'Brien In Defense of a Married Man (1990) Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter (1991) Neil Simon's Broadway Bound (1992) Quiet Killer (1992) Mastergate (1992) Law & Order (cast member from 1992–2004) Homicide: Life on the Street (1996, 1997, 1999) (guest star) Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998) Encounters With the Unexplained (1999) Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) (guest star) Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) (guest star) The Hunt (2001) Broadway: The American Musical (2004) Law & Order: Trial by Jury (cast member in 2005) (filmed up to episode #1.6)

Books

His love poems to his wife Elaine were published in Remember How I Love You: Love Letters from an Extraordinary Marriage (Touchstone, 2009).

References

External links

• Jerry Orbach at the Internet Movie Database
• Jerry Orbach at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jerry Orbach at the Internet off-Broadway Database
• Jerry Orbach at Find a Grave
• Jerry Orbach obituary (The Washington Post)
• Biography and Interview from "Broadway; The American Musical"
• Jerry Orbach sings "Try to remember"
• Law and Order Star Jerry Orbach Dies MSNBC

v • d • e Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series Dennis Franz (1994) · Anthony Edwards (1995) · Dennis Franz (1996) · Anthony Edwards (1997) · Sam Waterston (1998) · James Gandolfini (1999) · Martin Sheen (2000) · Martin Sheen (2001) · James Gandolfini (2002) · Kiefer Sutherland (2003) · Jerry Orbach (2004) · Kiefer Sutherland (2005) · Hugh Laurie (2006) · James Gandolfini (2007) · Hugh Laurie (2008)

v • d • e Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (1947-1975) Paul Hartman (1948) · Ray Bolger (1949) · Ezio Pinza (1950) · Robert Alda (1951) · Phil Silvers (1952) · Thomas Mitchell (1953) · Alfred Drake (1954) · Walter Slezak (1955) · Ray Walston (1956) · Rex Harrison (1957) · Robert Preston (1958) · Richard Kiley (1959) · Jackie Gleason (1960) · Richard Burton (1961) · Robert Morse (1962) · Zero Mostel (1963) · Bert Lahr (1964) · Zero Mostel (1965) · Richard Kiley (1966) · Robert Preston (1967) · Robert Goulet (1968) · Jerry Orbach (1969) · Cleavon Little (1970) · Hal Linden (1971) · Phil Silvers (1972) · Ben Vereen (1973) · Christopher Plummer (1974) · John Cullum (1975) Complete list: (1947-1975) · (1976-2000) · (2001-present)