<P> Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach (October 20, 1935--December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his death as "one of the last bona fide leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television" and a "versatile stage and film actor". </P> <P> Orbach's professional career began on the New York stage, both on and off - Broadway, where he created roles such as El Gallo in the original off - Broadway run of The Fantasticks (1960) and became the first performer to sing that show's standard "Try To Remember"; Billy Flynn in the original Chicago (1975--1977), and Julian Marsh in the original 42nd Street (1980--1985). Nominated for multiple Tony Awards, Orbach won for his performance as Chuck Baxter in Promises, Promises (1968--1972). </P> <P> Later in his career, Orbach played supporting roles in films such as Prince of the City (1981), Dirty Dancing (1987), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991). He also made frequent guest appearances on television; including a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote (1985--1991) as private detective Harry McGraw . However, he gained worldwide fame for his starring role as NYPD Detective Lennie Briscoe on the long - running NBC crime drama Law & Order (1992--2004). </P> <P> Orbach was born on October 20, 1935, in the Bronx, the only child of Emily (née Olexy), a greeting card manufacturer and radio singer, and Leon Orbach, a restaurant manager and vaudeville performer . His father was a Jewish emigrant from Hamburg, Germany . Orbach stated that his father was descended from Sephardic refugees from the Spanish Inquisition . His mother, a native of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, was a Roman Catholic of Polish - Lithuanian descent, and Orbach was raised in her faith (a religious background later replicated in his character on Law & Order). Throughout his childhood, the Orbach family moved frequently, living in Mount Vernon, New York; Wilkes - Barre, Nanticoke, and Scranton, Pennsylvania; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Waukegan, Illinois . Orbach attended Waukegan High School in Illinois and graduated in 1952 (having skipped two grades in elementary school due to his high IQ). He played on the football team and began learning acting in a speech class . The summer after graduating from high school, Orbach worked at the theatre of Chevy Chase Country Club of Wheeling, Illinois, and enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign in the fall . In 1953, Orbach returned to the Chicago area and enrolled at Northwestern University . Orbach left Northwestern before his senior year and moved to New York City in 1955 to pursue acting and to study at the Actors Studio, where one of his instructors was the studio's founder, Lee Strasberg . </P>

Who played lenny briscoe on law and order
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