Today the late actor Jerry Orbach (1935-2004) is best remembered as the world-weary New York City Detective Lennie Briscoe from the Emmy Award-winning NBC television series Law and Order. But that work only accounts for 12 years of a 50-year career that spanned stage, screen, and television. From the moment he landed the role of the Street Singer in the 1955 off-Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera, he distinguished himself as a major performer in popular musicals and plays, including The Fantasticks, Carnival, Scuba Duba, Promises, Promises, 6 RMS RIV VU, Chicago, and 42nd Street. Jerry Orbach also appeared in over 40 films, with Crimes and Misdemeanors; Prince of the City; Dirty Dancing; and the voice of the candlestick, Lumière, in Disney's Beauty and the Beast topping the list. From the '60s through the '90s, he was a guest or featured actor on major TV hits like The Defenders; Love American Style; Murder, She Wrote; The Golden Girls; and Frasier. Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City is the story of this versatile performer – his triumphs and tragedies public and private. Most of all, it is a study of a gifted actor's craft as told through the observations, insights, and reminiscences of those who knew him best. Listen to John Anthony Gilvey live at Book Expo America on the BEA Podcast.

(Applause Books). Today the late actor Jerry Orbach (1935-2004) is best remembered as the world-weary New York City Detective Lennie Briscoe from the Emmy Award-winning NBC television series Law and Order . But that work only accounts for 12 years of a 50-year career that spanned stage, screen, and television. From the moment he landed the role of the Street Singer in the 1955 off-Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera , he distinguished himself as a major performer in popular musicals and plays, including The Fantasticks , Carnival , Scuba Duba , Promises, Promises , 6 RMS RIV VU , Chicago , and 42nd Street . Jerry Orbach also appeared in over 40 films, with Crimes and Misdemeanors ; Prince of the City ; Dirty Dancing ; and the voice of the candlestick, Lumiere, in Disney's Beauty and the Beast topping the list. From the '60s through the '90s, he was a guest or featured actor on major TV hits like The Defenders ; Love American Style ; Murder, She Wrote ; The Golden Girls ; and Frasier . Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City is the story of this versatile performer his triumphs and tragedies public and private. Most of all, it is a study of a gifted actor's craft as told through the observations, insights, and reminiscences of those who knew him best.

Every morning for the thirteen years he was on Law & Order, Jerry Orbach wrote his wife a short love poem and placed it next to her coffee cup before he left for work. Over the years Jerry wrote hundreds of notes -- all of which Elaine cherished and preserved. Now dozens of Jerry's most meaningful poems to Elaine, along with stories from his amazing career and their enduring romance, tell the tale of their life together. With essays from some of Jerry's dearest friends and a foreword by Sam Waterston, Elaine created a collection of funny and moving poetry and a tribute to a wonderful marriage and a dearly loved man. The world remembers Jerry as a legendary Broadway actor, Baby's father in Dirty Dancing, and of course the wisecracking detective Lenny Briscoe on Law & Order. But to his widow, Elaine, Jerry was a poet...and the love of her life.

The Fantasticks tells an age-old tale. Its ingredients are simple: a boy, a girl, two fathers, and a wall. Its scenery, a tattered cardboard moon, hovers over an empty wooden platform. With these bare essentials, Jones and Schmdt launched a theatrical phenomenon unmatched the world over.

The TLA Film, Video & DVD Guide 2002-2003 is the absolutely indispensible guide for the true lover of cinema. By focusing on independent and international films, and avoiding much of the made-for-TV/made-for-cable/made-for-video dreck, this guide offers more comprehensive coverage of the films the reader may actually want to rent and see. The guide includes: * Reviews of more than 10,000 films * Four detailed indexes - by star, director, theme, genre, and country of origin * More than 450 photos throughout * A listing of all the major film awards, TLA Bests and recommended films * A comprehensive selection of cinema from over 50 countries From one of the finest names in video retailing and a growing rental chain comes the latest edition of one of the most respected film, video, and DVD guides. The TLA Film, Video & DVD Guide is perfect for anyone whose tastes range from All About My Mother to Fight Club; from This Is Spinal Tap to Ma Vie en Rose.

Hollywood Godfather is Gianni Russo's over-the-top memoir of a real-life mobster-turned-actor who helped make The Godfather a reality, and his story of life on the edge between danger and glamour. Gianni Russo was a handsome 25-year-old mobster with no acting experience when he walked onto the set of The Godfather and entered Hollywood history. He played Carlo Rizzi, the husband of Connie Corleone, who set her brother Sonny—played by James Caan—up for a hit. Russo didn't have to act—he knew the mob inside and out: from his childhood in Little Italy, where Mafia legend Frank Costello took him under his wing, to acting as a messenger for New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello during the Kennedy assassination, to having to go on the lam after shooting and killing a member of the Colombian drug cartel in his Vegas club. Along the way, Russo befriended Frank Sinatra, who became his son's godfather, and Marlon Brando, who mentored his career as an actor after trying to get Francis Ford Coppola to fire him from The Godfather. Russo had passionate affairs with Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minelli, and scores of other celebrities. He went on to become a producer and starred in The Godfather: Parts I and II, Seabiscuit, Any Given Sunday and Rush Hour 2, among many other films. Hollywood Godfather is a no-holds-barred account of a life filled with violence, glamour, sex—and fun.

A filmography of Blacks in the film industry