Genesee Theatre WELCOME HISTORY RENOVATION PLAY A PART ... CONTACT Jerry Orbach Jerry Orbach born in October of 1935 in the Bronx, the only child of Emily, a greeting card manufacturer, and Leon Orbach, a restaurant manager. Since neither of his parents were strangers to the performing arts (his father had tried vaudeville and his mother once had a stint as a radio singer), they were always supportive of Jerry's desire to be an actor. While Jerry was in grade school the family moved frequently, finally settling in Waukegan where he joined the football team and began learning basic acting techniques from his speech teacher. Following his high school graduation, he worked in summer stock at the Chevy Chase Country Club in Wheeling, Illinois, where he got to try his hand at everything from minor performances to building sets. After attending the University of Illinois for one year, Jerry transferred to Northwestern University, where he continued to study the Stanislavsky method of drama. After training with Herbert Berghof and Lee Strasberg, the lanky, deep-voiced Jerry Orbach received his first off-Broadway job as an understudy in the popular 1955 revival of The Threepenny Opera, eventually playing the lead role of MacHeath. During the Threepenny run, Jerry made his first film appearance in the Manhattan-filmed, Cop Killer (1958). In 1960, he created the role of flamboyant interlocutor El Gallo in the off-Broadway smash The Fantasticks. That musical is still running, but Jerry has since starred in multiple Broadway productions, among them Carnival (1961), Promises Promises (1966), Chicago (1975) and 42nd Street (1983). | |
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