# Jimmy Smits' death scene in NYPD blue **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 13, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630 "2002-12-13T23:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/1 "2002-12-13T23:02:24Z")
i know that i’m a bit tardy in this, but it came up on the radio or something about the ‘wonderful’ nypd blue.i never watched it before, but i was at my girlfriend’s house the night that he died, so i was only half watching the show. it seemed to me that the minute that he got sick, like, before he got any test results back, he was being told by his wife that it was ok to “let go”. it seemed to me to be a bit premature. does anyone else remember it this way? (had i known that amy brenneman was his wife i would have been a more avid watcher, but, hey…) ---
**Author:** ![Coffeeguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Coffeeguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coffeeguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/2 "2002-12-13T23:13:59Z")
Except that Kim Delaney played his wife. Is Jimmy Smits married to Amy Brenneman in real life or something? -Coffeeguy ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/3 "2002-12-13T23:16:01Z")
First, Amy Brenneman wasn’t his wife, Kim Delaney was (AB left the series around the time David Caruso did). Second, you definitely missed a huge part of the story arc. IIRC, he went through one transplant already, his body was deteriorating rapidly and rejecting the new heart, and any futher procedures would be very high-risk and quite traumatic. That’s why she decided to not to anything that was further invasive, and just let him go in peace. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/4 "2002-12-13T23:16:41Z")
well, i am more confused than i thot. i didn’t even hear of amy being connected with the show until after i saw it. i know that she’s a babe,so that explains why i didn’t think that js’s wife was THAT great. i somehow heard them connected. not married, tho. she’s married to somebody else. unless, that is, i am confused again. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/5 "2002-12-13T23:17:09Z")
I should also say that everything I mentioned happened over the course of 3-4 episodes, not just one. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/6 "2002-12-13T23:18:12Z")
i KNEW that my amy wouldn’t do anything that heartless!!! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/7 "2002-12-13T23:42:16Z")
That series of episodes got me hooked on NYPDB, after having only watched it only a couple of times previously. **ArchiveGuy** is right, they built up to his death over several episodes. It really made his final passing away quite touching, although the final rooftop hallucinations came close to being kinda cheesy. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/8 "2002-12-14T03:36:07Z")
well, anything even remotely resembling dennis franz naked scares me big time, so i never watched after that. ---
**Author:** ![Cholo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cholo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cholo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/9 "2002-12-14T04:46:31Z")
THAT was the best “death scene” I had ever seen on TV. It was shown what? 4 or 5 years ago? It was incredibly touching. What was interesting was that they used Bobby’s delirious state of mind as part of the “passing”. He kept seeing his Uncle up on the roof with the pidgeons. I guess you had to have seen it to know what I’m talking about but it WAS great. Very, very moving. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/10 "2002-12-14T05:03:48Z")
Actually, if memory of the series before his death serves me right, the gentleman on the roof was not his uncle. He was a character in a previous story arc who was a former boxer who was losing his mental capabilities over time. He was close to Bobby in the past and had introduced him to keeping/racing pigeons. In the previous story arc, Bobby kept trying to get him to admit he was losing his mental faculties, etc. but he refused to get help. Why he was the character helping Bobby to let go in the rooftop scene has never been clear to me. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-smits-death-scene-in-nypd-blue/142630/11 "2002-12-14T19:07:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MeanJoe \* > \*\*Why he was the character helping Bobby to let go in the rooftop scene has never been clear to me. \*\* Patsy was dead, so Bobby thought of him as an angel. Also, Patsy was the one, many years ago, who got Bobby into pigeons, which Bobby had always credited as the reason he grew up straight instead of a skel. I liked the fact that as Bobby had more trouble breathing in “real” life he had the same problems in his dream. As an asthmatic, I know that this is how it really does work. –Cliffy