In an era of “Entertainment Tonight,” E!, The National Enquirer and at least two daily tabloids — The New York Post and The New York Daily News — serving Gotham proper, it comes as simply astounding that one of television’s leading men could be diagnosed with prostate cancer, transferred off his hit show and ultimately hospitalized without ever surfacing on Lloyd Grove’s radar.
And yet that quiet death may have been the greatest tribute to Jerry Orbach, the man who picked up where Jack Webb left off over 30 years before, returning the primetime cop to household-name status. That the suave “Law & Order” star could sit atop the Nielsen world for over a decade and attract more paparazzi in the show than real life suggests a sort of quiet dignity all too often lacking in the ultra-arrogant stardom of today.
Of course, for Mr. Orbach fame did not come at once, with his career actually beginning when Joe Friday was still asking for “just the facts.” But it is easy to see where the actor scored his biggest breaks. The 1960s would have him taking Broadway curtain calls as Cook County’s seediest lawyer before Catherine Zeta-Jones was even born. In 1987, Mr. Orbach took to the silver screen alongside Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in “Dirty Dancing,” giving what Vincent Canby of The New York Times would credit an “excellent performance.” Disney’s “The Beauty and the Beast” allowed him to humor children worldwide in 1991 as the voice of Lumiere. And a year later, Mr. Orbach would take over for Paul Sorvino on “Law & Order,” becoming the staple of NBC’s primetime hit for over a decade.
Last year, Mr. Orbach quietly shifted his efforts to the newest Dick Wolfe spin-off, “Law & Order: Trial By Jury,” still playing Detective Lennie Briscoe, but ceding star status. At the time, the move seemed like an attempt to offer star fuel to a new series, but hindsight provides clarification that the primetime shift allowed a lighter shooting schedule as he underwent cancer treatment.
On Dec. 28, 2004, Mr. Orbach passed away in New York City. It is fitting in a sense that he died in the city where Broadway hosted his theatrical genius and just about every inch of Manhattan would serve as a backdrop to his “Law & Order” stardom.
And as Lennie Briscoe, Mr. Orbach epitomized the city’s spirit. His legendary wisecracks were the stuff of New York cynicism, and his heart-driven search for justice spoke to the aura of a city changed by Rudy Giuliani.
The club of characters who could survive over a decade on primetime is one of television’s most exclusive, and Lennie Briscoe’s run was among the classiest. If it was tough for Mr. Orbach to replace Mr. Sorvino when “Goodfellas” was still fresh in the American vernacular, the task now facing Dennis Farina is all the greater.
To be sure, Mr. Farina comes to the show with a history that can easily rival that of Mr. Orbach, circa 1992. “Get Shorty,” “Saving Private Ryan” and “Snatch” have all earned the actor a seat among Hollywood’s finest. But with the bar now set so high, it will take a lot more than a marvelous cinematic history for Mr. Farina to earn a lasting badge on “Law & Order.”
But the show goes on, just as did Broadway after dimming its marquee lights for a minute in honor of the deceased actor. And yet the impressions are everlasting. If Mr. Webb could earn a spot in rerun-driven “TV Land” several decades later, it seems a safe bet that Mr. Orbach will be able to grace the next generation, just as he wowed this one.
