Jerry Orbach

Born October 20, 1935, in the Bronx, New York, Jerome Bernard Orbach was the son of Emily and Leon Orbach, a former vaudevillian actor. He studied at the University of Illinois before transferring to Northwestern, and trained as an actor under Herbert Berghof, Mira Rostova, and Lee Strasberg. Stock companies provided his first professional work. In Bob Fosse's 1975 production of Chicago, he originated the role of Billy Flynn. He married Marta Curro, with whom he had two sons, Anthony and Christopher, and later married Elaine Cancialla.

His film credits include "Beauty and the Beast," "Dirty Dancing," "Out for Justice," "Universal Soldier," "Toy Soldiers," "Bye Bye Birdie," "Brewster's Millions," and "Someone to Watch Over Me." On television, he appeared in "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Frasier," "The Golden Girls," "Murder, She Wrote," "One Life to Live," and "Who's the Boss?."

The American Theater Hall of Fame inducted him in 1999, and in 2002 the New York Landmarks Conservancy named him a "Living Landmark." On September 18, 2007, a portion of 53rd Street near Eighth Avenue in New York City was renamed "Jerry Orbach Way" in his honor. Broadway theater marquees were dimmed for him on December 29, 2004.