Jerremy Bernard Orbach was born in Bronx, New York, USA on October 20th 1935. He is an only child in his family whose father, Leon, worked as vaudevillian actor, while his mother, Emily, was a radio singer. During his childhood, Orbach and his parents frequently moved from one to another places, like Mount Vernon, New York, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton Pennsylvania, Springfield, Massachusetts and Waukegan, Illinois. As he grown up, Orbach went to study at Illinois and Northwestern University and he also learned acting with Lee Strasberg at Actors Studio, New York.

On June 21, 1958 Orbach married his first wife, Marta Curro, and ended it up in 1975 with two sons left: Anthony Nicholas and Christopher Ben. On October 7, 1979 he married to Broadway Dancer, Elaine Cancilla, whom he met while playing in Chicago, in which he won the Tony award Best Actor in Musical nominee.

During 1980's Orbach was very famous regarding his role in "Dirty Dancing" and in Disney's animated musical movie "Beauty and the Beast." As well, in 1987 he starred in a crime drama entitled "The Law and Harry McGraw" which led him to his very best known role in "Law & Order" series (1992-2004) as detective Lennie Briscoe. Wanted to extend his film work, he agreed to play the role on "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" that will be aired in the beginning of 2005 and had completed its three episodes.

In adition to his success, Orbach once nominated for the Tony Award for "Best Featured Actor in a Musical" for his performance in "Guys and Dolls" (1965) before he in 1969 won one for lead male in a musical for his 1968 role of Chuck Baxter in the Burt Bacharach/'Hal David' musical "Promises, Promises", a stage adaptation of Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960).

Unfortunatelly, in early 2004, Orbach had suffered from prostate cancer since ten years before and was died during his treatment at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York on December 28, 2004. What a pity?! No matter what, his figure will still remain in his fans' heart who admire such of his jobs, as his creation roles of El Gallo in "The Fantasticks," Billy Flynn in "Chicago," and Julian Marsh in "42nd Street" on the New York stage.