Lennie Briscoe

Leonard W. Briscoe is a fictional character on NBC's long-running police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order. He was created by Walon Green and René Balcer and portrayed by Jerry Orbach. He was featured on the show for 12 complete seasons and part of another, from 1992 to 2004, making him one of the longest-serving main characters in the series' history, as well as the longest-serving police detective on the show. He also appeared in three Law & Order spin-offs and was part of the original cast of Law & Order: Trial by Jury, appearing in the first two episodes prior to his death. He appears in 282 episodes across the Law & Order franchise (273 episodes of Law & Order, two episodes of Law & Order: Trial by Jury, one episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, three episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and three crossover episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street), the TV movie Exiled and the Law & Order video games Law & Order: Dead on the Money, Law & Order: Double or Nothing, Law & Order: Justice Is Served and Law & Order: Legacies.

Prior to Orbach's recurring role, he played lawyer Frank Lehrman on Season 2 Episode 2, "The Wages of Love". Orbach's performance as Briscoe on the New York–based series was so popular that it resulted in Orbach being declared a "Living Landmark" by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, in a joint recognition with fellow longtime series cast member Sam Waterston, who portrayed prosecutor Jack McCoy on Law & Order for 19 seasons.

Lennie Briscoe is introduced in the ninth episode of the third season, "Point of View", as the new senior detective in the New York City Police Department's 27th Detective Squad in the 27th Police Precinct's station house. In the episode "Virus", his birthday is given as January 2, 1940. His commanding officer during his first season on the show is Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek); a year later, Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) takes over the 27th Precinct. He was previously assigned as a detective in the 116th Squad in Queens.

Briscoe joins the squad after Det. Mike Logan's (Chris Noth) partner, Sgt. Phil Cerreta (Paul Sorvino), is shot by a black market arms dealer and transfers to a desk job in another precinct.

After Logan is transferred to Staten Island in 1995, Det. Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) becomes Briscoe's partner. Four years later, Curtis goes into early retirement to take care of his multiple sclerosis–stricken wife, and he is replaced by Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) in 1999.

Born on January 2, 1940, Lennie Briscoe grew up in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. He has a brother. As a child, he attended P.S. 21, as his father had before him, as well as P.S. 189. He attended college at the City College of New York. A veteran of two failed marriages, Briscoe has two daughters by his first wife, the elder Julia and the younger Cathy (Jennifer Bill), and a nephew, Det. Ken Briscoe (played by Orbach's real-life son, Chris). Cathy was born on June 23, 1971, and murdered on March 4, 1998. By 2002, Briscoe has at least two grandchildren.

Prior to working for the NYPD, Briscoe worked at his uncle's liquor store.

Briscoe began working in the NYPD homicide department in 1981. He carries a Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolver as his service weapon.