Jerry Orbach, the popular Broadway star whose later career in television and movies boasted a virtuoso versatility that ranged from the crusty cop Lenny Briscoe in Law & Order to the the beguiling voice of the candelabra in Beauty and the Beast, died Tuesdayof prostate cancer in Manhattan after undergoing several weeks of treatment. He was 69.
Despite his illness, Mr. Orbach had started production on Law and Order: Trial by Jury, a spin-off show he joined after a dozen seasons as Lenny Briscoe.
On the stage, Mr. Orbach was a star long before Law and Order and enjoyed a steady string of hits both on and off Broadway. He won a Tony Award in 1969 as Chuck Baxter in Promises, Promises, Neil Simon's musical version of Billy Wilder's movie The Apartment.
He provided plenty of that old razzle-dazzle as the first Billy Flynn, the lawyer in Chicago. And he also starred as director Julian Marsh in 42nd Street.
Mr. Orbach first made his mark singing "Try to Remember" as the first El Gallo in the long-running Off-Broadway hit The Fantasticks. To his dismay, Hollywood didn't remember his talent when casting decisions were made.
As his theatrical career flourished, he became the victim of own success. Movie producers, he thought, had him pigeon-holed as a musical star rather than an actor of untapped potential. It took him many years to break through the stereotype.
As the scowling, wisecracking but somehow still endearing detective Lenny Briscoe, and in a variety of movie roles - from the shady brother in Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors and Jennifer Grey's father in Dirty Dancing to a superb turn as Billy Crystal's agent in Mr. Saturday Night - he demonstrated his wider range.
Mr. Orbach joined Law & Order in 1995, its third season, and was nominated for an Emmy. He once said of the detective that he didn't know "where I stop and Lennie starts, really... . I know he's tougher than me and he carries a gun. And I'm not an alcoholic. I know I wouldn't want to be him. I guess that's where I stop and he starts."
Some of Mr. Orbach's fellow 1952 summer-stock players at Chevy Chase Playhouse in Wheeling, Ill., give a sense of the span of his career: They include Mae West, Vincent Price and John Ireland.
He was born in the Bronx in 1935, the son of a Polish Catholic mother and German Jewish father. The family moved so often that he was the permanent new kid at school. Of necessity, he recalled, he became a chameleon, and that led naturally to acting.
Mr. Orbach thrived early on the stage. He was 21 when made his Off-Broadway debut as the Streetsinger in The Three-Penny Opera. His Broadway debut in Carnival brought him recognition and acclaim, and theatrical work came steadily.
In 1965, he garnered his first Tony nomination as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. After his triumph in Promises, Promises, Mr. Orbach toured nationally in Chapter Two and other Simon plays.
He won his third Tony nomination co-starring with Gwen Verdon in the original run of Chicago. In the '70s, Mr. Orbach paralleled his stage work with supporting parts that marked his sometimes frustrating progress in film.
Usually he was cast as a cop or a crook. ("They're both guys who put on a gun in the morning and go out to work and don't know if they're going to come at night," he said of the similarity.)
But it was a movie role that led to the part with which Mr. Orbach became indelibly identified for millions of fans. In 1981, he played Gus Levy, a cop in Sidney Lumet's tough New York corruption drama Prince of the City.
Dick Wolf, the executive producer of Law & Order, took note and thought he would be a perfect fit as Lenny Briscoe. Mr. Orbach (who is survived by his second wife Elaine, whom he met doing Chicago) said it was the turning point in his professional life. "The movie," he said, "changed my image, for the public and the business: 'Oh, he's not a song-and-dance guy. He can act.' "
He certainly could.
Despite his illness, Mr. Orbach had started production on Law and Order: Trial by Jury, a spin-off show he joined after a dozen seasons as Lenny Briscoe.
On the stage, Mr. Orbach was a star long before Law and Order and enjoyed a steady string of hits both on and off Broadway. He won a Tony Award in 1969 as Chuck Baxter in Promises, Promises, Neil Simon's musical version of Billy Wilder's movie The Apartment.
He provided plenty of that old razzle-dazzle as the first Billy Flynn, the lawyer in Chicago. And he also starred as director Julian Marsh in 42nd Street.
Mr. Orbach first made his mark singing "Try to Remember" as the first El Gallo in the long-running Off-Broadway hit The Fantasticks. To his dismay, Hollywood didn't remember his talent when casting decisions were made.
As his theatrical career flourished, he became the victim of own success. Movie producers, he thought, had him pigeon-holed as a musical star rather than an actor of untapped potential. It took him many years to break through the stereotype.
As the scowling, wisecracking but somehow still endearing detective Lenny Briscoe, and in a variety of movie roles - from the shady brother in Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors and Jennifer Grey's father in Dirty Dancing to a superb turn as Billy Crystal's agent in Mr. Saturday Night - he demonstrated his wider range.
Mr. Orbach joined Law & Order in 1995, its third season, and was nominated for an Emmy. He once said of the detective that he didn't know "where I stop and Lennie starts, really... . I know he's tougher than me and he carries a gun. And I'm not an alcoholic. I know I wouldn't want to be him. I guess that's where I stop and he starts."
Some of Mr. Orbach's fellow 1952 summer-stock players at Chevy Chase Playhouse in Wheeling, Ill., give a sense of the span of his career: They include Mae West, Vincent Price and John Ireland.
He was born in the Bronx in 1935, the son of a Polish Catholic mother and German Jewish father. The family moved so often that he was the permanent new kid at school. Of necessity, he recalled, he became a chameleon, and that led naturally to acting.
Mr. Orbach thrived early on the stage. He was 21 when made his Off-Broadway debut as the Streetsinger in The Three-Penny Opera. His Broadway debut in Carnival brought him recognition and acclaim, and theatrical work came steadily.
In 1965, he garnered his first Tony nomination as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. After his triumph in Promises, Promises, Mr. Orbach toured nationally in Chapter Two and other Simon plays.
He won his third Tony nomination co-starring with Gwen Verdon in the original run of Chicago. In the '70s, Mr. Orbach paralleled his stage work with supporting parts that marked his sometimes frustrating progress in film.
Usually he was cast as a cop or a crook. ("They're both guys who put on a gun in the morning and go out to work and don't know if they're going to come at night," he said of the similarity.)
But it was a movie role that led to the part with which Mr. Orbach became indelibly identified for millions of fans. In 1981, he played Gus Levy, a cop in Sidney Lumet's tough New York corruption drama Prince of the City.
Dick Wolf, the executive producer of Law & Order, took note and thought he would be a perfect fit as Lenny Briscoe. Mr. Orbach (who is survived by his second wife Elaine, whom he met doing Chicago) said it was the turning point in his professional life. "The movie," he said, "changed my image, for the public and the business: 'Oh, he's not a song-and-dance guy. He can act.' "
He certainly could.
