Elaine Cancilla Orbach (January 19, 1940 – April 1, 2009) was an American stage and musical theatre
actress and
dancer
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...
.
Career
Orbach, known professionally as Elaine Cancilla, appeared on
Broadway and
Off Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
in productions including: ''
Fiorello!'', ''
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', ''Here's Love'', ''
Flora the Red Menace'', ''
Sweet Charity
''Sweet Charity'' is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon alongside John McMartin. It is based on ...
'' and ''Cry for Us All''.
Private life
In 1979 she married actor
Jerry Orbach, a star on
stage and later of
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
and
television (''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'').
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''.
Following his death in 2004, she petitioned to have a portion of
53rd Street
53rd Street is a Midtown Manhattan, midtown cross street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan, that runs adjacent to buildings such as the Citigroup Center, Citigroup building. It is 1.83 miles (2.94 km) ...
at
Eighth Avenue, in New York City's
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
(and near his long-time home), renamed "Jerry Orbach Way"; it was rechristened in 2007.
Death
She died on April 1, 2009, at age 69, from
pneumonia in a hospital in New York City.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orbach, Elaine Cancilla
American female dancers
American musical theatre actresses
American stage actresses
People from Manhattan
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
1940 births
2009 deaths
Dancers from New York (state)
Dancers from Massachusetts
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
20th-century American dancers
21st-century American women