Elaine Cancilla Orbach (January 19, 1940 – April 1, 2009) was an American stage and musical theatre actress and dancer.
Career Orbach, known professionally as Elaine Cancilla, appeared on Broadway and Off Broadway in productions including: Fiorello!, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Here's Love, Flora the Red Menace, Sweet Charity and Cry for Us All.
Private life In 1979 she married actor Jerry Orbach, a star on stage and later of film and television (Law & Order). They met several years earlier while appearing together in the original Broadway theatre production of the Kander & Ebb musical, Chicago. They also co-starred in a touring production of Neil Simon's play, Chapter Two.
The couple lived in a high-rise on 53rd Street off Eighth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen, an intersection shared with the Theater District, where Orbach was a fixture in that neighborhood's restaurants and shops. His glossy publicity photo hangs in Ms. Buffy's French Cleaners, and he was a regular at some of the Italian restaurants nearby. Following his death in 2004, she petitioned to have a portion of 53rd and 8th renamed in honor of Orbach; the plans met with some resistance by local planning boards, but were overcome thanks to his popularity and his love of the Big Apple.
Death She died on April 1, 2009, at age 69, from pneumonia in a hospital in New York City. She was survived by her stepsons Tony Orbach and Chris Orbach, from whom she was estranged due to disagreements over Jerry's will.
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