Best Law & Order Guest Stars

[want2know]

@Indyellen

This is the episode which generated, IMHO, one of the most chilling guest shots ever: Elizabeth Hanly Rice as the mother whose baby was “kidnapped” while she was at confession. The scene where she retraces her steps with Curtis was just AMAZING.

In the returning defense lawyer area, I’d have to say Dennis Boutsikaris is my third favorite (after Tovah & Lorraine) playing TWO DIFFERENT defense attorneys at various times.

And in the recurring character category, Leslie Hendrix as Dr. Rodgers the ME…she went toe-to-toe with anybody, including Lennie, and held her ground.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Marcia Jean Kurtz as Carla Lowenstein in two episodes. “Indifference” (the first one) was the best, but keeping her as the same character in “Fixed” in this latest season was GREAT continuity.

And who can forget the previously mentioned David Groh as Carla’s abusive husband?

[Ass_For_A_Hat]

My favorite was Zeljko Ivanek as Phillip Swann. Acting as his own jailhouse lawyer, Swann gets his conviction overturned and then goes after Stone.

I also really liked Chris Cooper as the Klan lawyer. I like him in about everything though.

[Cat_Fight]

@SpoilerVirgin

My first thought was Hallee Hirsh, who played a very young psychopath in “Killerz”. She was the one who convinced her older friend to help her murder a young boy.

Word. Especially that bit when Skoda (Skodaaaa!) yells at her to see if she’ll react, and she just shrugs, totally unaffected.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Larry Miller as comedy club owner Michael Dobson – so good when he killed his first wife (in “Coma”) that they brought him back to kill his second wife in “Encore”.

Personal favourite, too. He’s just so ridiculously unfunny, I always stay up to watch either of these too.

[want2know]

Another favorite:[ul]
[li]Comedian Adam Ferrara as the child-molesting comic–with a cameo by the aforementioned Larry Miller–this time playing himself (I think). [/li][/ul]

[kayT]

S. Epatha Merkerson before becoming the Leut. was a mother whose child was killed, who worked cleaning at a hospital. Remarkable for the scene where they came to tell her her children were dead. Season 1 episode 17 “Mushrooms”

[Nonsuch]

@want2know

and one whose name and character escapes me; he was a short little shmendrick who turned out to be a brilliant defender (appeared in at least 2 episodes)

You’re probably thinking of George Grizzard as Stone’s nemesis Arthur Gold. He still shows up, but he doesn’t get under McCoy’s skin the same way.

@Indyellen

Oh, and I almost forgot: Marcia Jean Kurtz as Carla Lowenstein in two episodes. “Indifference” (the first one) was the best, but keeping her as the same character in “Fixed” in this latest season was GREAT continuity.

Wow. I haven’t watched L&O since Elizabeth Rohm made me scream obscenities at the set; would someone care to spoil this episode for me?

[Guinastasia]

@kayT

S. Epatha Merkerson before becoming the Leut. was a mother whose child was killed, who worked cleaning at a hospital. Remarkable for the scene where they came to tell her her children were dead. Season 1 episode 17 “Mushrooms”

On that note, what about Jerry Orbach playing a defense attourney during the first season? Or the time the guy who played Skoda was a white supremacist behind a subway bombing on the first crossover with Homicide?

[Bryan_Ekers]

@Guinastasia

Or the time the guy who played Skoda was a white supremacist behind a subway bombing on the first crossover with Homicide?

Hmmm? The character who gas-bombed a New York subway (and attracted the interest of three Homicide characters who were investigating a similar attack on a Baltimore church) was Brian Egan, played by Kevin Geer (“Charm City”). JK (“Skoda”) Simmons has an earlier appearance in a racially-charged episode (“Sanctuary”, in which a Jewish man panics after running over a back child, eventually touching off riots), but offhand I don’t recall in what capacity.

[drm]

If Special Victims Unit counts, I liked Martin Shorts performance recently.

[Indyellen]

@Nonsuch

(Re: 2nd Lowenstein episode)
Wow. I haven’t watched L&O since Elizabeth Rohm made me scream obscenities at the set; would someone care to spoil this episode for me?

You’re in luck, according to NBC’s website it’s airing again next Wednesday (6/22/05) at 10pm.

If you still want it spoiled:

Papa Lowenstein gets released from prison (on parole, IIRC) and is run over intentionally. Mama Lowenstein (who divorced him) is one of the people questioned. As far as spoiling “whodunnit” I simply don’t remember.

[Guinastasia]

@Bryan Ekers

Hmmm? The character who gas-bombed a New York subway (and attracted the interest of three Homicide characters who were investigating a similar attack on a Baltimore church) was Brian Egan, played by Kevin Geer (“Charm City”). JK (“Skoda”) Simmons has an earlier appearance in a racially-charged episode (“Sanctuary”, in which a Jewish man panics after running over a back child, eventually touching off riots), but offhand I don’t recall in what capacity.

Really? I could have sworn it was Simmons?

[Bryan_Ekers]

@Guinastasia

Really? I could have sworn it was Simmons?

Nope. Possibly you’re conflating Skoda with Simmons’ white-supremacist character of Vern Shillinger on the prison drama Oz.

Simmons also played an ultra-liberal in The Ladykillers (2004) and he seemed almost bipolar in the Spider-Man movies. I like JK. He’s got range.

[mhendo]

@Bryan Ekers

Nope. Possibly you’re conflating Skoda with Simmons’ white-supremacist character of Vern Shillinger on the prison drama Oz.

Simmons also played an ultra-liberal in The Ladykillers (2004) and he seemed almost bipolar in the Spider-Man movies. I like JK. He’s got range.

And he’s now in the new TNT series The Closer, with Kyra Sedgewick. I watched the first episode last week and thought it was pretty good.

[mhendo]

I liked Episode 1:14 “The Violence of Summer,” in which two bad guys were played by Gil Bellows (probably best known for Ally McBeal) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. They were appropriately psycho, especially in the opening courtroom scene.

I also liked Chris Cooper as the white supremacist lawyer. But, like Ass for a Hat, i think Cooper is great in just about everything he does. And S. Epatha Merkerson in her guest role as the mother of a murdered baby was amazing.

Also, like want2know, i’m a big fan of Tovah Feldshuh in her recurring role as Danielle Melnick. Just this week, TNT played Episode 13:7 “Open Season,” where Melnick inadvertantly helps her client facilitate the murder of a judge. Feldshuh is great in this one.

I had always thought that this was Melnick’s exit from the show, but it seems, according to IMDB, that she appeared the follopwing season in Episode 14:14 “City Hall.”

[want2know]

@Nonsuch

You’re probably thinking of George Grizzard as Stone’s nemesis Arthur Gold. He still shows up, but he doesn’t get under McCoy’s skin the same way.
Wow. I haven’t watched L&O since Elizabeth Rohm made me scream obscenities at the set; would someone care to spoil this episode for me?

No, although I like the Arthur Gold character too. This was a short, much younger man.

[zippyh]

@Bryan Ekers

Hmmm? The character who gas-bombed a New York subway (and attracted the interest of three Homicide characters who were investigating a similar attack on a Baltimore church) was Brian Egan, played by Kevin Geer (“Charm City”). JK (“Skoda”) Simmons has an earlier appearance in a racially-charged episode (“Sanctuary”, in which a Jewish man panics after running over a back child, eventually touching off riots), but offhand I don’t recall in what capacity.

Simmons played the guy (Col. Rausch) who told the Egan character to do the gas-bomb attack. It was actually a Homicide episode (For God and Country) that was the second part of a L&O/Homicide crossover.

[Leaper]

@mhendo

I had always thought that this was Melnick’s exit from the show, but it seems, according to IMDB, that she appeared the follopwing season in Episode 14:14 “City Hall.”

Yep. She appeared to still be disabled somewhat from the attack, but she was as determined as ever - that particular defendant was accused of shooting someone or an attack on a lawyer (I don’t remember which), so Jack at first questioned why she took that client. She, of course, wouldn’t let her bad experience get in the way of the best defense for her client.

[mhendo]

@Leaper

Yep. She appeared to still be disabled somewhat from the attack, but she was as determined as ever - that particular defendant was accused of shooting someone or an attack on a lawyer (I don’t remember which), so Jack at first questioned why she took that client. She, of course, wouldn’t let her bad experience get in the way of the best defense for her client.

Now that you describe it, i think i remember seeing that episode. She was walking with a cane, i think?

[Dr.Rieux]

Jenna Stern.
Most memorable (to me, at least) as ADA Ricci in “Refuge: Part 1.”

[Bryan_Ekers]

@zippyh

Simmons played the guy (Col. Rausch) who told the Egan character to do the gas-bomb attack. It was actually a Homicide episode (For God and Country) that was the second part of a L&O/Homicide crossover.

Fair enough. I was never as regular a watcher of Homicide as I was of L&O.