27 Facts About Lennie Briscoe

Lennie Briscoe was created by Walon Green and Rene Balcer and portrayed by Jerry Orbach.

Lennie Briscoe was featured on the show for 12 seasons, 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.

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.

Lennie Briscoe's commanding officer during his first season on the show is Capt.

Lennie Briscoe was previously assigned as a detective in the 116th Squad in Queens.

Lennie Briscoe attended college at the City College of New York.

Lennie Briscoe begins working in the NYPD homicide department in 1981.

Lennie Briscoe feels responsible for her death, and he remains sober for the rest of his life.

Lennie Briscoe's drinking harmed his family; he was often absent from his daughters' lives while they were growing up, and they have distant, fractious relationships with him as adults.

Lennie Briscoe blames himself, especially when Cathy, a methamphetamine addict, is murdered by a drug dealer named Danny Jones after she testifies against him in court.

Lennie Briscoe is later seen talking to the arresting officer about the snitch, but it is never confirmed if Lennie Briscoe did him the favor.

Lennie Briscoe's father served in the United States Army during World War II and helped to liberate the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

Lennie Briscoe's father suffered from Alzheimer's, and is dead by 1994.

Lennie Briscoe did not get along with his father, and once described him as a "schmuck".

Lennie Briscoe mentions having voted for Al Gore in the 2000 US presidential election.

Lennie Briscoe plays golf, and he is revealed to be a skilled pool player, in one episode defeating an opponent in eight-ball after the break without giving up a turn.

Lennie Briscoe is one of many characters on the show to have served in the military; he was at one point a corporal in the United States Army.

Lennie Briscoe typically has a wisecrack or joke about the victim or circumstances of death at the close of the opening scene, usually in a deadpan delivery.

Parker and Lennie Briscoe have a private conversation during which Parker, speaking hypothetically, essentially relays to Lennie Briscoe that his son killed the other boy in self-defense.

Lennie Briscoe finally gets the truth out of Flynn with a hidden wire tap, but Flynn commits suicide before he can be further prosecuted.

Lennie Briscoe testifies for the prosecution to this effect, resulting in the evidence being readmitted.

Again, Lennie Briscoe is eventually vindicated, and Green and he work to rebuild their professional rapport.

Lennie Briscoe died at some point between 2004 and 2005.

Lennie Briscoe appeared in three episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street.

Lennie Briscoe appears in only the first two episodes of this series - "The Abominable Showman" and "41 Shots".

In 2005, the Lennie Briscoe character was written out after the second episode of Trial By Jury, coinciding with Orbach's death on December 28,2004, from prostate cancer.

Lennie Briscoe reveals to Van Buren that he had spoken with Briscoe a few days before his death, and that he was his old wisecracking self to the end.