Idle question: have you or any family member/friend ever had a part as a corpse on any of the Law & Order shows (original, CI, SVU)?
Whenever I see that already-dead, non-speaking body at the beginning of just about every episode, I imagine the letter or email home: “Mom! Dad! I got my big break! Watch me next Saturday!”
Just curious. Seems like with the number of episodes and the number of Dopers, the odds would favor an affirmative answer.
ETA: Oops. I guess this belongs in Cafe Society.
No
Though Dio has had a good bit of free time lately…so you might want to ask him.
I think they cast aging major celebrities in those parts, too. Like, Anne-Margaret played that one poor corpse from the Lonely Hearts scam. Remember? That was her.
No, but I should. I’m pretty good at holding my breath.
The ones where it’s kids, I always think how hard it would be to see my kid like that even knowing it’s fake! I’d probably be bawling like a crazy person.
I don’t think they show kid corpses. I can’t recall that at least. Wise decision (if I’m right).
No, they do. There was one crazy SVU episode I remember where some aggrieved mother of a dead boy was holding the ME and police and ADA or something hostage in the morgue and the ADA kept thrusting the kid’s corpse at the mother to try to help things somehow. That was the most bizarre episode. Anyone know what I’m talking about? I think it might have been a season finale.
Yes, that was one weird episode, if I’m thinking of the same one (maybe I’m not). The mother was French. Christine Lahti, the nutso ADA was in it. Maybe you’re thinking of a different one…
I’m talking about the corpses that have NO lines and you only see at the very beginning at the crime scene and then sometimes later on the autopsy table. I don’t recall any big recognizable stars having one of those parts.
That was it! The ADA was like sort of implying the kid was still alive or something I think? Really I’m not sure wtf she was trying to do. That show can be so ridiculous. Not hard to see why it’s been called torture porn.
I was the understudy for the corpse in a production of Don Giovanni. Does that count?
Sort of. Was Don Giovanni being prosecuted by Jack McCoy for molesting women?
Here I will reveal the truth: I was the corpse for every single episode of Seasons Four, Five, and Six. They dressed me in different clothes, changed my makeup, added breasts, etc. as needed, but it was always me. They said they didn’t want to use anyone else because I always did such a good job of portraying someone who was dead (I smoked four joints before each series of takes).
I got fired in Season Seven when I heard a really funny joke just before shooting and couldn’t stop giggling. A guy with six bullet holes in his chest shouldn’t be giggling, the director said. It was a fair cop.
I saw an interview with Claire Danes and she mentioned she got her start “like every other New York actor did” on Law & Order. She played a teen killer.
I know a couple of people who have done this. I work with an acting company in NYC. Many of our people do extra work on the shows produced here. Some have been bodies. Sometimes this is a good part as they reenact the crime and in different ways.
I would totally do that for free. It would be a hoot!
Parts is parts.
Oh god yes. I saw that one and it was indeed a jump-the-shark moment of the darker kind. Yeah, they sure showed the corpse there. I don’t recall ever seeing them show one “off the slab,” i.e., at the crime or dump site…
Hey, I was joking about the recognizable stars playing the corpses! It’s just that they use celebrities in smaller roles sometimes–celebrities you wouldn’t expect to see on TV. I don’t really think Anne-Margaret is so hard up that she’d play a corpse beginning to end on a TV show. 
I’m not sure I have the guts…
Incredible! I’ll look for you. Are we talking about the original L&O?
Who was YOUR favorite ADA and cop team?
I’m not dead, and while I don’t play dead on TV, if there was a check in it that payed for more than tolls & parking, I’d probably do it.
I mean, they strap rubber organ pieces on you right? Because I might need parts of that kidney later…