I hope that doesn’t sound smart-alecky; I don’t mean it to.
A few months ago we had a thread discussing dead celebrities we mourned. Several people mentioned Jerry Orbach and had high words of praise for him, saying he was one of the best things about Hollywood while he lived.
Now I have nothing against Jerry Orbach. I always enjoyed his performance as Lenny Briscoe, and I’m fairly certain I have a couple of CDs here featuring him performing in Broadway shows. Nevertheless, the great praise heaped upon him in the above mentioned thread had me at a loss.
First of all, people loved the way he played the character of Lennie Briscoe. Orbach made him into a person that a lot of folks liked and admired.
Secondly, there’s his versatility as a performer. It’s hard to imagine very many other people who could pull of a hardnosed NYPD detective on one day, and be just as comfortable singing “The Lullaby of Broadway” the next.
Thirdly, of course, there’s his longevity and popularity on a hit TV series. That allowed him to build up fandom.
Fourthly, there are a lot of people with anthropomorphic candelabra fetishes out there.
He could do it all…movies, TV, Broadway, sing, dance, act. He could play a variety of characters.
Plus he was nice. He wasn’t caught up in the fame, he wasn’t obnoxious (at least that I heard), he didn’t get arrested for drunk driving and sex videos featuring him and starlets didn’t pop up on the internet.
He was a good guy. That’s why he’s missed. From what I can tell (and I’m sure some Doper will come along with a list fourteen yards long proving me wrong ) that’s a rarity in Hollywood.
Jerry Orbach seemed like a nice guy, and he died pretty suddenly, but I think most of the grief was for Lenny Briscoe. I know it’s silly to identify the actor with the role, but in long running shows a lot of us tend to do that.
On a “Viewers’ Choice” show on PBS recently (The airing was recent, but the show was a repeat of indeterminate vintage), it was claimed that Jerry Orbach has given more onstage musical performances on Broadway than any other leading man. That’s a lot of qualifiers for a claim, but clearly the guy had a combo of triple-threat talent, reliability, popularity and star quality.
He also played a chilling hit man in my all-time favorite Woody Allen movie, Crimes and Misdemeanors. A man of many talents with hang-dog ordinary guy looks. What’s not to like?
I can appreciate his talent in a number of roles of seen him in, but I must admit I was turned off to him on some level after I saw him host a creationist show one night.
I never saw the show myself, as I could not imagine purposefully vexing myself so, but I did see him in ads for a show which appeared to purport that Noah’s Ark was real. I recall being vexed for an instant, then saying to myself, “So what? He’s an actor. Maybe it’s just a job, or maybe he doesn’t know any better; it’s got nothing to do with Lenny Briscoe.”
As a Brit, I’ve only ever seen him in Law and Order.
However to me he embodied the character of Lennie Briscoe - competent, cynical (but with occasional sentiment), divorced, sports lover, team player…
I never thought I was watching an actor, which is the ultimate compliment.
I think Steven Hill had the same qualities (“you have no case - make a deal!”)
I spent a week in Marrakech, Morrocco with him and his lovely wife Elaine, shooting a job for The Food Channel. ( This was…hmm… 9 years ago? 8 ? Something. )
He was a gentle kind fun soul. A complete professional, filled with THE BEST stories of Broadway. I felt quite awful when I heard he’d passed away. In the other thread, I wrote of some experiences during that week.
Anyone who thinks the grief over Orbach’s death was merely because he played Lennie Briscoe doesn’t follow the theatre community, which was broken up over the loss of this remarkable stage actor.
Jerry was a “triple threat”–he could sing, dance, and act on stage. Doing all three on film is one thing, but live has no retakes. Very few people can do all three live really well. Jerry could.
Pre L&O, Orbach lived in the same apartment building as my best friend on the Upper West side. I ran into him once, but my friend said he was very friendly and approachable.
Naah, not just a job. This was a TV “documentary” which came from an impassioned desire to spread the truth of creationism, and specifically as it related to the push towards teaching ID in schools (IIRC).
But beyond that I generally agree with you. Heck, I listen to Wagner, so I can appreciate one’s art/talent independent of one’s beliefs/ideas. Just saying that when I think of JO I think simultaneously of his wonderful ability to create multi-dimensional, genuinely believable, and likeable characters, AND I also picture him spouting the ridiculous arguments of why ID should be taught in schools. The latter thought affects my overall opinion of the guy, but not the actor.
I’d seen him in other things, including Dirty Dancing and a tribute after his death that had clips of some of his Broadway work, but the Lenny Briscoe character seemed so real that I always assumed Orbach himself was just like the character; rumpled, ordinary in the best sense, a regular guy. He was somebody almost anyone could identify with. Wonderful? I don’t know. But I always got the feeling that I would have liked the guy personally. What more can you ask of an actor?
