Jerry Orbach

In 1969, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor (Musical) for his 1968 role of Chuck Baxter in the Burt Bacharach/Hal David musical "Promises, Promises", a stage adaptation of Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960). This was preceded by a 1965 Tony nomination as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for a revival of "Guys and Dolls," and followed by a 1976 Best Actor (Musical) nomination for the original production of "Chicago."

In 1976, he was nominated for the Tony Award® for "Best Actor in a Musical" for his performance in "Chicago."

Had read for the roles of Max Greevey and Phil Cerreta on "Law & Order" (1990) before finally being cast as Det. Lennie Briscoe.

Announced on March 26, 2004, that he would be leaving "Law & Order" (1990) after 12 years on the series.

Appeared in episodes of three different series with Jesse L. Martin: "Law & Order" (1990), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2001).

Appeared in episodes of three different series with Richard Belzer: "Law & Order" (1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999).

His character "Law & Order" (1990) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005) character, Detective Lennie Briscoe, was the longest running character on American prime time live action television from May 2004, when "Frasier" (1993) ended, to March 2005. Kelsey Grammer had played Dr. Frasier Crane in "Cheers" (1982) and "Frasier" (1993) since November 1984. Richard Belzer, who has played Detective John Munch in "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) since January 1993, is the current holder of the title.

Although he and Steven Hill appeared in 177 episodes of "Law & Order" (1990) and the "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) episode "Entitled" together, the only time that they ever appeared on screen together was during one brief scene in the "Law & Order" (1990) Season Seven episode "Corruption".

Along with S. Epatha Merkerson, Annie Parisse,Milena Govich, and Jeremy Sisto one of only 5 "Law & Order" (1990) cast members to play a different character in an episode before joining the cast in a later season. (Michael Imperioli and J.K. Simmons also played multiple roles, but were not permanent additions to the cast.).

Along with Jesse L. Martin, Fred Dalton Thompson and Leslie Hendrix, he is one of only four actors to play the same character (Detective Lennie Briscoe) on all four "Law & Order" series ("Law & Order" (1990), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999), "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2001) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005)).

Before joining the cast of "Law & Order" (1990) in 1992, he played a defense attorney named Frank Lehrman in the Season Two episode "The Wages of Love". Detective Lennie Briscoe, the character he later played on the series for twelve seasons, hated defense attorneys for defending "the scum of the earth."

He played the same character (Detective Lennie Briscoe) in five different television series: "Law & Order" (1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999), "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2001) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005).

Jesse L. Martin performed the song "Razzle Dazzle" from the musical "Chicago" at the 2005 Tony Awards just as the "In Memoriam" section of the show was finishing. The last photo shown during the memorial was that of Orbach, who was both Martin's costar on "Law & Order" (1990) and the first person to perform "Razzle Dazzle" in the original Broadway production of "Chicago".

Is one of four cast members from "Law & Order" (1990) whose character became a regular on a "Law & Order" spin-off. He played Det. Lennie Briscoe in both "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005). Although he was signed as a regular cast member in L&O:TBJ, he died unexpectedly after shooting only two episodes.

Along with Chris Noth, Dann Florek and Fred Dalton Thompson, he is one of four "Law & Order" (1990) cast members who later joined the regular cast of one of the spin-off series. He played Detective Lennie Briscoe in "Law & Order" (1990) from 1992 to 2004 and was a member of the original cast of "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005).

Appeared in episodes of four different series with Sam Waterston: "Law & Order" (1990), "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999) and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005).

Received the Edith Oliver Award for Sustained Excellence at the 1999 Lucille Lortel Awards.

Played the uncle of his real-life son, Chris Orbach, in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999).

On Monday, 20th March 2000 he sued on-line auctioneer eBay Inc. in Manhattan (New York) federal court for displaying his Social Security number on the Internet. The suit alleges that eBay began broadcasting the confidential information on its Web site on Wednesday 15th March 2000 when it advertised the sale of two of Orbach's contracts from 1958.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 405-407. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.

The "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005) episode "Baby Boom" was dedicated to his memory. At the end, a message was shown that said "For Jerry".

His manager, Robert Malcolm, announced in December 2004 that he has prostate cancer. However, Malcolm said, "We expect he'll be fine. He's been playing golf, shooting his episodes (of "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005)) and doing real well".

On "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005), when he was so ill that he couldn't speak above a whisper, they rewrote the scene so that he and the other characters around him all had reason to whisper (outside of a courtroom door).

In 2007 Jerry's oldest son Tony and grandson Peter appeared on the tv-show Cash Cab together.

His widow Elaine Orbach died on April 1st 2009 from pneumonia at the age of 69.