A middle-aged couple summoned to New York by the police break down upon learning that one of their daughters has been murdered and the other is missing. Though he has no lines in the rest of the scene, Jerry Orbach creates an affecting moment simply by closing his eyes and flinching slightly at their pain.
Longtime Law & Order viewers understand. A couple of seasons ago one of Det. Lennie Briscoe's daughters was murdered in a rare story that glimpsed inside the character's personal life. No overt mention of her death came up in this more recent episode, but in an instant Orbach subtly conveyed the rocky inner life of his character without stealing focus from the main story.
That's what he's been doing for eight seasons as homicide detective Briscoe-a wise-cracking recovering alcoholic who has been through an emotional wringer and become the show's most reassuring presence, thanks largely to Orbach's fluid yet consistent performance. It isn't easy to inject lines like, "Did he have any enemies?" and "When did you last see her?" with color every week while staying true to character (check out Law & Order's spinoff Special Victims Unit for proof), but Orbach pulls it off with ease and aplomb.
His austere, craggy features and his Ordinary Joe appearance led to a string of roles as detectives, mobsters, and blue-collar types after he played a crooked cop in Sidney Lumet's 1981 film, Prince of the City. In such a package, you wouldn't expect to find such unflinching sensitivity and discerning intelligence, yet that's exactly what Orbach has brought to his roles in Crimes and Misdemeanors, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Delusion, Someone To Watch Over Me, Dirty Dancing, and Broadway Bound.
But rarely has the New York-born actor-who first found fame as a musical theatre star in shows such as The Fantasticks, Promises, Promises, and Chicago-been given the chance for his character to grieve over his wreck of a personal life on Law & Order. Consequently, in the same time period in which NYPD Blue's Dennis Franz has won four Emmy Awards for playing a weather-beaten alcoholic cop with family problems, Orbach has never been nominated. Law & Order executive producer Rene Balcer dubbed Orbach "the most underappreciated, unrecognized actor on television today" in TV Guide last year.
Acting awards almost universally go to actors who have delved into every crevice of their character's emotions and laid them bare on-screen. But this 64-year-old Tony winner has the more challenging task: creating a vivid character from the snippets of information that are revealed during a murder investigation.
While such creative frustrations have impelled some cast members to leave the show, Orbach has thrived in playing the guilt Briscoe feels over his rocky relationships with his daughters, his anger over accusations of professional corruption, his inability to stay on the wagon at the end of one difficult week, and his whimsical relationship with Richard Belzer's Homicide/Special Victims Unit character, Det. John Munch.
With Law & Order renewed through 2005, Orbach, should he remain with the series that long, will have the chance to make Briscoe one of the longest-running characters ever on a dramatic series, and one of the most engrossing.
