Jerry Orbach

Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer described as "one of the last bona fide leading men of the Broadway musical". Orbach's career began on the New York stage, both on and off-Broadway. He created roles such as El Gallo in the original off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks (1960), in which he was the first performer to sing that show's standard "Try to Remember". Orbach won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Chuck Baxter in Promises, Promises (1968–1972). He was also Tony-nominated for portraying Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls (1965) and Billy Flynn in the original Chicago (1976). Orbach gained worldwide fame for starring as NYPD Detective Lennie Briscoe on the NBC legal drama Law & Order from 1992 to 2004. For that role, he earned the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series as well as a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He reprised the role across several series, including Homicide: Life on the Street (1996–1999), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2000), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001), and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005). On film, Orbach took supporting roles as a detective in the crime drama Prince of the City (1981), a coach in the comedy film Brewster's Millions (1985), an overly protective father in the romance film Dirty Dancing (1987), and a mobster in the drama Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). He voiced Lumière in the Walt Disney animated musical film Beauty and the Beast (1991).