Law and Order actor Orbach dies

NEW YORK - Jerry Orbach, acclaimed as a quintessential New York actor for his work on Broadway, in films and as the star of television's "Law & Order," has died from cancer. He was 69.

Orbach, whose best-known films included "Prince of the City", "Crimes and Misdemeanours" and "Dirty Dancing", announced he was being treated for prostate cancer earlier this month.

He died at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre late on Tuesday, a hospital spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Dick Wolf, creator and producer of "Law & Order", called Orbach "a legendary figure of 20th century show business, who was a star of screen, stage and television."

Orbach starred for 12 seasons in the original "Law & Order" television series as Detective Lennie Briscoe and was set to star in a new spinoff in March.

NBC said production on the spinoff will continue. Orbach will still be seen in "Law & Order: Trial By Jury." Six episodes of the show are already filmed, with Orbach featuring in two or three of them.

"That character will forever be Jerry's," said Audrey Davis, a spokeswoman for the producers of the show. No decision had been made on how to write Briscoe out of the show.

A lanky actor with a deep voice and a slicked mop of dark hair, Orbach first made his name on Broadway, winning a Tony for "Promises, Promises". He created the role of Billy Flynn in "Chicago" and was in the original cast of "42nd Street".

Broadway theatres planned to dim their lights on Wednesday night to honour him.

Despite suffering cancer, his death came as a surprise. Orbach's manager Robert Malcolm said earlier this month the actor had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer but that the prognosis was good. "We expect he'll be fine," Malcolm told the New York Daily News.

Born in the Bronx in 1935, he was the son of a former vaudevillian and a radio singer. He went to the University of Illinois and Northwestern University before returning to New York to study with method-acting guru Lee Strasberg.

"It was just sort of understood," he said in a 2003 Playbill interview about his career choice. "It was never a decision that I made at a certain point. When I was nine years old, they picked me for the leading role in a school play. ... I think I always knew I was going to be a performer."

Orbach first made his name as a song and dance man with his New York debut in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's "The Threepenny Opera," before creating the role of El Gallo in New York's longest-running Off-Broadway musical, "The Fantasticks".

He made his Broadway debut in "Carnival," receiving his first Tony nomination for the 1965 "Guys and Dolls" revival. A string of successful starring roles in musical revivals followed, including "Carousel" and "Annie Get Your Gun".

But it was his role as the wise-cracking, world-weary New York City Detective Lennie Briscoe on "Law & Order" that brought Orbach a new generation of fans.

And he never completely left the musical. Orbach sang the Academy Award-nominated song "Be Our Guest" in Disney's 1991 animated film "Beauty and the Beast".

He is survived by his wife, Elaine, and two sons.

- REUTERS