I learn something new every day and this was a shocker.

[Kingofalldems]

Jerry Orbach was a great Broadway actor and singer. I had no idea. Where have I been?

One of the best songs ever:

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. I knew he was a hoofer, but had never heard him sign either.

He came across as a very natural actor.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Lennie Briscoe! That's how I know him...

I didn't know this, either! And I was involved in a production of The Fantasticks when I was a kid, love that song, too! Very cool!

[trof]

3. What a talented man.

[murielm99]

4. Jesse L. Martin was a singer too,

before he became a cop on Law and Order.

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. He was in the original cast of Rent

Jerry was in the original casts of The Fantasticks, Chicago and 42nd street. He was even the candlestick in Beauty and the Beast.

[IrishEyes]

5. He was great.

He could play a tough guy and he could dance and sing. He was big on broadway. There is a street corner in New York named Jerry Orbach Way. He seems like he was a great guy. He was also an organ donor. He had perfect vision and his corneas were donated when he died.

[MADem]

6. Yes--he was a man for all seasons.

He was also a "regular" guy. I had a neighbor many years ago who was friends with him from childhood . Now, I never saw JO in person, never met him, but my neighbor knew him in his youth and they still got together when my neighbor went back to NY.

I always thought that was kind of cool, that he didn't forget his pals from back in the day.

[mrmpa]

7. And did you know that prior to playing Detective Briscoe........

he was in an episode of Law & Order where he was the criminal (murderer) I bellieve.

[Major Nikon]

8. I knew he was a Broadway actor for many years

He is (or at least should be) most famous for that.

[Aristus]

10. The same shock I felt when I discovered that this slightly unsavory, Brylcreemed guy from

'Dirty Dancing', 'The Law And Harry McGraw', and 'Law And Order' was a song-and-dance man of the highest caliber.

I fell in love with Orbach's Lenny Briscoe, and mourned when Orbach died.

I have his original cast recording of "Try To Remember" on my iPod. Just Jerry, a piano, and a harp. Breathtaking...