Jerry Orbach (October 20, 1935 - December 28, 2004)

Whenever I hear his name I immediately just think of the words "The Man" On Broadway he brought his style and class to Annie Get Your Gun, Guys and Dolls and The Fantasticks just to name a few... In 1955 he made his first film appearance and would go onto to appear in more than two dozen films including Guys and Dolls, Mad Dog Call, Brewster's Millions, F/X, I Love N.Y., Dirty Dancing, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Out for Justice, Toy Soldiers, Beauty and the Beast and Universal Soldier... On television he found another home however. From 1980 to 1981 he was a recurring player on the daytime soap opera "One Life to Live." In 1985, he made a guest appearance on the CBS mystery series "Murder, She Wrote" starring Anglea Lansbury. His character, PI Harry McGraw quickly became a favorite with audiences and in 1987 "The Law and Harry McGraw" debuted on CBS. Sadly the series only lasted one season but the Harry McGraw character continued to make occasional guest appearances on "Murder, She Wrote" until the spring of 1991. On September 24, 1991 he made his first appearance on "Law & Order" but not as Detective Briscoe but rather as defense attorney Frank Lehrman. On November 25, 1992 Detective Lennie Briscoe made his first official appearance replacing the departing Paul Sorvino. Even though he joined the series during its third season he became one of the most beloved and recognizable characters in the show's history. After more than 200 hundred appearances he made his final appearance on May 19, 2004. At the time the actor was suffering from prostate cancer but had an optimistic outlook and signed on to appear as Lennie Briscoe in a reduced role on the spin-off series "Law & Order: Trial by Jury." Saldy he was only able to appear in the first two episodes. His final episode originally aired on March 4, 2005 three months following the actor's passing... He also brought Detective Lennie Briscoe to "Homicide: Life on the Street", "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." His final film role was in Manna from Heaven in 2002 and his final television guest role was a reprisal of his "Beauty and the Beast" role on the animated series "Mickey's PhilharMagic" in 2003... His other television credits include (this list is incomplete): "Toast of the Town" "The Shari Lewis Show" "The Kraft Music Hall" "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" "The Mike Douglas Show" "Super Password" "Larry King Live" "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" "Love, American Style" "The Nurses" "The Defenders" "Medical Center" "Kojak" "Trapper John, M.D." "Ryan's Hope" "The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers" "Who's the Boss?" "The Golden Girls" "Empty Nest" "Frasier" In Memoriam Remembers: Jerry Orbach