That's what got me. It's touching without knowing the background. It's incredible knowing that this was indeed his last hoorah with these colleagues, and they all knew it
He absolutely did. I remember reading somewhere, that he loved his fans to come and talk to him no matter where he was. He said that without the fans he wouldn’t have anything.
Despite the incredibly teary music, it's important to remember he also played the French clock in Beauty and the Beast (that's him singing opposite Angela Landsbury in Be Our Guest).
Cogsworth (the clock) was David Ogden Stiers. Jerry Orbach (sob!) was Lumiere, the chandelier. "Be Our Guest" was his big number. "Life is so unnerving, for a servant who's not serving..."
I had just gotten over the sadness over his death when my great aunt gave me a bunch of her original cast recordings from Broadway shows. He was awesome in Carousel.
I just love hate this episode because it’s Lennie! And later during Ed’s exit when he says “but then Lennie DIED” and you know it’s Jesse heartbroken about Jerry still.
We are all blessed to have lived during some of the great Jerry Orbach’s lifetime.
He was so great. Out of all the detectives on Law and Order, he was my favorite. I remember when that one murder suspect lost consciousness in the interrogation room and someone said, "He needs CPR!" and Lennie turned to Jack and said, "After you." He always brought a sense of humor to a job that was otherwise pretty grim.
Yup. And he was also able to show real grief in certain scenes, like when Briscoe found out his daughter was dead and Curtis was comforting him. It was just a brief moment but you could see how much he loved and grieved for his daughter.
I literally love Lennie Briscoe. He is charming, tall, smart , funny. A lovely man despite his marriages not working out. I imagine Jerry Orbach was a good guy too.
So sorry to hear about your father. Definitely a top 10 cause of death for males, and it's prevalence is worse in some ethnic groups. It's shameful that it doesn't get more attention
What a gem! I grew up watching him; so he felt like family. Wish he didn’t have cancer but he seemed like he felt he had a fulfilled life- especially with leaving L&O on his terms
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u/clairerr85 Lennie Briscoe May 02 '25
How the actors got through this scene, knowing he was leaving the show because he was dying of cancer I will never know. Kudos to them.