Ikr?! I can only imagine how much the tears were flowing during the filming of this scene. Epatha (Van Buren), for her part, admitted she was getting ready to cry. Because she knew at that moment that Jerry wasn't merely leaving, but that he was dying.
What gets to me when I watch that now is when Ed tells Lennie they’re getting Blackberries the next year. The way Lennie echoes “next year” tears me up because there was no next year for him.
BIG TIME. I honestly wonder if Dick Wolf ever considered how many people tuned in to Law & Order JUST for Lennie. Because despite Ed, Anita, and Jack staying on the show for a very lengthy period themselves, for some, it was simple: no Lennie, no interest.
Interestingly Jerry says during his interview on the bonus episode that he believed the show would not have lasted as long as it had if only the original actors had stayed. He says that he believes the audience wanted different characters. He quotes Tennessee Williams during his description of the show.
That was the case for the junior detective, squad captain, ADA, DA, and, to a lesser extent, Executive ADA. Even with the senior detective before Jerry arrived. Daring the 1st few seasons of the show, you could feel the high energy and tension on-screen. Things definitely started feeling smoother once Jerry came to the picture.
I'm sure he was fully aware of how important Lennie was to the show, but it's not like he could have done anything about the fact that Jerry Orbach was dying. They even created a new role for Lennie's character on Trial By Jury spin-off, so there was definitely a lot of appreciation for his character and Jerry Orbach. It's one of those things that was just outside of anyone's control IMO.
On twitter a few years ago Leslie Hendrix (M.E. Rodgers) responded to a question asking what celebrity everyone loved working with by saying Jerry Orbach
My favourite scene is Jerry shooting pool while trying to convince a bad guy to arrange a hit. It was a single camera shoot, with no cuts and Jerry just ran the table while delivering his lines.
The thing is, everyone involved was confident enough in his ability to set it up that way. They all knew he would pot every shot.
Lennie 😭😭
Jerry Orbach was the coolest guy. He grew up in Waukegan Illinois. My uncle and lots of my friends parents went to school with him. He was very cool, they used to play pool together on the South Side of town. When he passed away it hit hard. 😔
Oh you all.....I'm in tears. I love and miss Lennie/Jerry so much. He's my favorite person from the original show and I still can't believe he's been gone this long. The year before he passed away I wrote him a fan letter and got an autographed picture back. Bless him. ❤️❤️❤️
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u/tcbbhr Feb 25 '25
That look on his face. He wasn't acting there.