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Actor/singer Jerry Orbach spent 20 years working primarily as a leading man in Broadway musical comedies, a career that netted him a Tony Award and appearances on eight cast albums, before devoting himself more to non-singing character roles in films and a part on a long-running TV series. This second part of his career brought him such recognition that his earlier work was all but forgotten, or, more precisely, never known to the millions who tuned in to watch him on television each week. Orbach was born the son of a father who was a restaurant manager, but had once worked in vaudeville and a mother who was a radio singer in the New York City borough the Bronx. His family moved around during his childhood, settling in Waukegan, IL, when he was 11. Having skipped grades, he graduated from high school at 16 and attended the University of Illinois for a year before transferring to Northwestern University, where he stayed for two-and-a-half years before leaving to launch his career. Movi...