Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City

Book excerpt: (Applause Books). Today the late actor Jerry Orbach (1935-2004) is best remembered as the world-weary New York City Detective Lennie Briscoe from the Emmy Award-winning NBC television series Law and Order . But that work only accounts for 12 years of a 50-year career that spanned stage, screen, and television. From the moment he landed the role of the Street Singer in the 1955 off-Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera , he distinguished himself as a major performer in popular musicals and plays, including The Fantasticks , Carnival , Scuba Duba , Promises, Promises , 6 RMS RIV VU , Chicago , and 42nd Street . Jerry Orbach also appeared in over 40 films, with Crimes and Misdemeanors ; Prince of the City ; Dirty Dancing ; and the voice of the candlestick, Lumiere, in Disney's Beauty and the Beast topping the list. From the '60s through the '90s, he was a guest or featured actor on major TV hits like The Defenders ; Love American Style ; Murder, She Wrote ; The Golden Girls ; and Frasier . Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City is the story of this versatile performer his triumphs and tragedies public and private. Most of all, it is a study of a gifted actor's craft as told through the observations, insights, and reminiscences of those who knew him best.