Jerome Bernard Orbach October 20 1935 December 28 2004 was an American actor and singer He is best known for his role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the series Law Order 19922004 and as the voice of Lumière in Disneys Beauty and the Beast 1991 as well as for being a noted musical theatre star his prominent roles included originating the character of El Gallo in The Fantasticks the longestrunning musical play in history as Chuck Baxter in the original production of Promises Promises for which he won a Tony Award Julian Marsh in 42nd Street and Billy Flynn in the original production of Chicago Description above from the Wikipedia article Jerry Orbach licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia