He has been an actor for decades and decades, always good, always interesting, always dedicated. I grew up listening to him on the soundtrack for The Fantasticks and also the soundtrack for 42nd Street. You may not know what a great singer he was.
Who can forget his chilling turn as the criminal brother of Martin Landau in Woody Allen’s brilliant Crimes and Misdemeanors? Apparently, someone else was supposed to play that part (someone famous, the name escapes me), and this person backed out at the last minute. Woody Allen put in a call to Jerry Orbach, a native New Yorker, just down the block, and Orbach stepped in, with almost zero preparation, and filmed his scenes in that movie on only 3 days notice. If you ever see Crimes and Misdemeanors again, WATCH Jerry Orbach.
And think of the fact that he only had 3 days to create that character.
Then, of course, there is his highly successful stint on Law & Order. Jerry Orbach, to my taste, is a real “actor’s actor”. A real collaborator, a team player … I’ve always loved that guy.
But it’s in Crimes and Misdemeanors, I believe, that his true talent is on display. Just WATCH him, in that cheesy brown leather coat, advising Martin Landau, leading him down the path.
He will be HUGELY missed.
Hey Sheila:
I loved him as well. He has one of the best lines in “Prince of the City” too. It’s a great scene shot from below as he walks in a door (barges actually) and tells someone he’s going to “Drop you out the window on your pointy head!” or something to that effect. He was so good that the scene is forever etched in my memory. He was definitely one of those actors that everybody recognized, but never knew his names.
Will be missed, no doubt. Just another sad footnote in this final week of 2 double 0 four.
Fee
R.I.P. Lenny Briscoe
Link: The Sheila Variations: This news makes me sad. I hardly ever gasp out loud at the news of a celebrity’s death, but clicking on Sheila’s just now — I did.
I love it when Orbach got to be a big tough-guy. Great stuff. Prince of the City was awesome – I did a whole Sidney Lumet thing on the blog a couple weeks ago, and that movie came up quite a bit.
what a pity. he was great.
PBS has been showing their best of Broadway special recently and Orbach’s turn in 42nd Street is featured. It’s a good example of his rich, resonant singing voice. It’s such a pleasure to watch because he clearly enjoyed being on the stage. Just look at his face.
A random memory I have is reading in the Daily News that Orbach and Bernadette Peters were out for dinner one night and he complained that his name never really made the papers. She replied, “Try wearing a bustier. It works for me.” Quite a visual, huh?
This terrible, terrible news. Thanks for posting it, Sheila. What a great actor. He had quit Law and Order to star in another spinoff that was going to revolve around him when he got sick.
Just awful.
More on Orbach
Sheila has more on the late Jerry Orbach.I grew up listening to him on the soundtrack for The Fantasticks and also the soundtrack for 42nd Street – You may not know what a great singer he was. And please -…
Dearest: sorry to see you caught the flu–so did Siobhan. We haven’t succombed yet. Cashel and Maria began their journey to Houston this a.m. We had a great visit. Thanks for the hint on enlarging the type size–I can finally read the new you. Get better, love, dad
To me he always epitomized the New York actor-preferredn the theater and New York based TV to Hollywood-even though Law and Order has gotten stale lately-he will be missed
Was surprised to read that he wasn’t an alcoholic-he certainly does a good understated job of playing a recovering one
What? No mention of his famous singing, dancing candlestick role?
Ma chere mademoiselle….
Oh! Of course! My bad. Please chalk it up to residual light-headedness from the fainting debacle.
Who could forget the candlestick? Yet another reason why he is so beloved.
I didn’t realize until today he was the genius behind Lumiere. One of my all-time favorite movie characters.
not lenny briscoe! this sucks!!!
I loved that he was the candlestick.
I just logged onto the internet- I have been on vacation in Virginia, and feel totally disconnected to the world! I am SOOOO sad to hear of this news! Yet, I am glad to hear of the Lumiere realization occuring in the world. It made me love the man even more…
Sniffled quite a bit when I heard, then plopped in ‘Try to Remember’ from the soundtrack. Major Dad said ‘I never had any idea he had a voice like that!’. Saw the Fantastiks at least four times thru the 60’s and 70’s because of that voice on a scratchy Decca record. (Still sing-a-long to it when I have the house to myself.)
Hugely missed is right.
He really was, as you said, an actor’s actor. One of those guys who you watch and later on you go, “yeah, he nailed that.”