Lenny Retires
I just heard third–hand that Lenny Briscoe retired from the NYPD.
Yes, I am referring to a Law & Order character as a real person.
Lenny was played by the magnificent Jerry Orbach, veteran of The Fantasticks and Chicago (on stage) and Crimes & Misdemeanors and Dirty Dancing (alas) on film. Orbach, believe it or not, was once one hell of a song and dance man.
But he will be forever remembered as Lenny. He played the part so well that New York’s Finest—I mean the non-actor, actual cops—treated him with the same respect as one of their own. That’s a high compliment, one I only know of one other actor receiving.
Danny Lee, Hong Kong actor, nearly always plays cops. (Exception: City on Fire. I don’t know of any others.) And HK police treat him as one of their own.
It’s sad to see the anchor of L&O depart, but we all knew it was inevitable. Orbach is at least 70, well past the mandatory retirement age for New York cops.
My favorite Lenny moment came with one of the crossover episodes with Homicide: Life on the Street in the mid–1990s. Lenny was sort of teamed up with Richard Belzer’s Detective Munch, and watching them snipe at each other like an old married couple was divine.
Munch: You think you know me?
Lenny: Middle–aged divorced Jewish cop? What’s not to know?
Then later:
Munch, interrogating suspect: Come on, didn’t it get boring? Coming home to the same old thing night after night after night? Who’d blame you for playing on the side with a hot little number?
Lenny: Now I know I know you!
(This is from memory, not at all exact.)
Ah, Lenny was priceless.
