How They Loved Each Other: Friends Celebrate Jerry and Elaine Orbach

Through a lifetime of roles such as Julian Marsh in "42nd Street", Sky Masterson in "Guys and Dolls," and, of course, Detective Lennie Briscoe on "Law and Order," Jerry Orbach garnered fame, fortune and the love of an entire city. But perhaps his most valued role was that of husband to his wife, Elaine.

Monday night, friends and colleagues gathered to celebrate the love story of Jerry and Elaine Orbach. Famed friends took the stage in New York at the Snapple Theater Center's Jerry Orbach Theater to share memories of Jerry and Elaine, and present excerpts from "Remember How I Love You," a posthumously published memoir of the late couple's romance. Recently released this month, copies of the book were sold to benefit The Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration and Bideawee, an animal welfare organization. The book presents short love poems that Jerry wrote each morning before heading off to work, typically to the set of "Law & Order," alongside Elaine's narrative of their marriage.

"Elaine took very good care of Jerry," the actor's mother, Emily Orbach, said.

Jerry's partner on "Law & Order," Jesse L. Martin, along with castmates B.D. Wong, Tamara Tunie, and Richard Belzer, read Jerry's loving confessions and silly rhymes to an audience that echoed their words with nostalgic laughter. Martin said he and Orbach's bond extended beyond their relationship as onscreen police detectives. "It was special because we were both theater guys, we were into the singing and dancing." And while "Law & Order" was a television crime drama, Martin and Orbach's friendship reached a higher level because of their commonalities. "I would do anything for [Jerry and Elaine]," said Martin, "Anything."

The roster of readers boasted names like Regis Philbin, Jerry Stiller, and Chita Rivera, and all shared memories of the Orbachs throughout their careers. "I was there when it happened," laughed Rivera, prefacing her reading. Elaine was also a talent on stage and the pair met during the run of Bob Fosse's "Chicago" while Jerry played Billy Flynn and Elaine was the standby for Rivera's Velma Kelly.

While Elaine undoubtedly possessed talent, she basked in the passion of her marriage. "After she met Jerry Orbach she was happy to be Mrs. Orbach," said Catherine Russell, general manager of the Snapple Theater Center and coordinator of the evening's events. "I find the love that they had incredibly inspiring."

Russell said that the evening's festivities were the fulfillment of a promise she made less than two weeks before Elaine's death. "We had lunch and she read me that poem at the end [of the book] and she said 'I want everybody to know, I want this book to be a success, I want people to know how much we loved each other,'" Russell said. "So I said, 'We'll throw a party.'"

Rivera emphasized the importance of the notes Jerry scribbled day after day. "If you love someone, take the time to say it. Rip off that little piece of paper and just write it down," Rivera said. "That's so important and that's what we're completely losing in this world today."

Rivera continued, seeming to sum up the mood of the evening as she recalled the love between Jerry and Elaine as passionate, indestructible and inspirational. "Every time I saw them together they were one," marveled Rivera, "They were one."