Law & Order Actors Who Have Sadly Passed Away

One of the longest-running live-action scripted primetime series on American television — a feat surpassed only by the classic Western drama "Gunsmoke" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (SVU), the most successful of its many spin-off series — producer/creator Dick Wolf's Emmy-winning "Law & Order" aired for 20 seasons on NBC between 1990 and 2010. During that period, a virtual army of actors have handled both the enforcement and prosecutorial sides of its stories. 

Chief among them were Sam Waterston, who starred as District Attorney (DA) Jack McCoy from Seasons 5 through 20; S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren (Seasons 5-20); Chris Noth, who played Detective Mike Logan from Seasons 1 to 5; Jerry Orbach as the inimitable Det. Lennie Briscoe (Seasons 3-14); and Jesse L. Martin as Det. Ed Green (Seasons 10-18). 

Dozens of other actors logged hours at the New York Police Department's 27th Homicide Precinct and New York County's District Attorney's Office over the course of the show's lengthy and popular network run. Many remain active in features and on television, while others have passed away in recent years. In honor of all the times their stories thrilled, chilled and otherwise captivated us, here's a list of the notable "Law & Order" cast members and recurring players who have passed away. 

An original "Law & Order" cast member, Steven Hill played the steely but philosophical New York Count District Attorney Adam Schiff from its debut episode, "Prescription for Death," in 1990 (replacing Roy Thinnes, who played DA Alfred Wentworth in the pilot, "Everybody's Favorite Bagman") until season 10's "Vaya Con Dios" a decade later.

The show wasn't Hill's first bout with TV stardom: active in live production during the "Golden Age of Television" in the 1950s, he played Dan Briggs, leader of the Impossible Missions Force, on the first season of the original TV version of "Mission: Impossible" from 1966 to 1967. He departed the series for unspecified reasons — "Variety" noted that Hill's religion (Orthodox Judaism) reportedly put him in conflict with shooting schedules due to observation of the Sabbath on Friday evenings — and remained off-screen for much of the 1970s. Appearances in '80s features like "Raw Deal" preceded his return to the spotlight on "L&O."

Hill retired from both the series and acting in 2000 with two Emmy nominations and seven Screen Actors Guild nods to his name. He died at the age of 94 on August 23, 2016 in Monsey, New York.

Character actor Dennis Farina lent authentic law enforcement flavor to his two-year run as the larger-than-life Detective Joe Fontana on "Law and Order." 

Like his character, Farina had been a former member of the Chicago Police Department and served as a consultant to writer-director Michael Mann, who cast him as the lead in his cult TV series "Crime Story" before segueing into acting roles in films like "Midnight Run," "Saving Private Ryan," and "Get Shorty." Farina stepped into big shoes when he joined the series in Season 15's "Paradigm": Jerry Orbach had just left the drama, which needed a lead detective to partner with detectives Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) and Nick Falco (Michael Imperioli).

Farina left the series at the end of Season 16 to pursue other projects. These included stints as host of "Unsolved Mysteries" and a recurring role on "New Girl," as well as features like "What Happens in Vegas." Farina died from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 69 in Scottsdale, Arizona on July 22, 2013.

Prosecutors on "Law & Order" probably trembled a bit upon discovering that Trial and Arraignment Judge Margaret Barry was presiding over their case. 

Barry, a New York Supreme Court judge in 10 episodes, as well as two cases on "SVU," all between 1990 and 2001, demanded rock-solid evidence from the prosecution. In Season 11's "School Daze," she threw a wrench into McCoy's case against an alleged school shooter by granting the defense — Carey Lowell's Jamie Ross — the right to suppress key evidence, including an alleged murder weapon.

Judge Barry was played by Doris Belack, a respected actress on the New York stage and television, and a memorable comic presence in feature films like "Tootsie" and "What About Bob?" and even video games like "Grand Theft Auto IV." The latter proved to be the final acting credit in her long career: Belack died of natural causes at the age of 85 in New York City on October, 4, 2011.

Film, TV, and stage actor Mark Blum appeared as three different characters on four episodes of "Law & Order." 

The most notable of these was as Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Frank Lazar, who butted heads with Michael Moriarty's Benjamin Stone in Season 3's "Jurisdiction," and Jack McCoy in Season 9's "Agony." Lazar left the DA's office after the dust-up with Stone, and worked for the litigation department of a Wall Street firm when he tangled with McCoy over serial killer Matt Bergstrom in "Agony."

Blum, best known to moviegoers as Rosanna Arquette's duplicitous husband in "Desperately Seeking Susan," logged numerous appearances in features and on television, building an award-winning career on the New York stage. He won an Obie Award in 1989 for the Off Broadway drama "Gus and Al," and appeared opposite several fellow "Law & Order" alum, including Philip Bosco, Dan Hedaya, and James Rebhorn, in a 2004 Broadway production of "Twelve Angry Men."

Married to actress Janet Zarish — herself a three-time "Law & Order" guest star — Blum died of complications from the coronavirus at the age of 69 on March 25, 2020.

A familiar face to film and TV audiences for more than three decades, actor Ron McLarty made five appearances on "Law & Order," four of which were as Manhattan Judge William Wright, a thorn in Jack McCoy's side on several high-profile cases. 

Wright overturned a rape conviction of teenagers who had assaulted a mentally disabled girl in Season 8's "Damaged" and went head to head with DA Nora Lewin (Dianne Wiest) over his beef with McCoy in Season 11's "Dissonance." In addition to his "Law & Order" appearances, McLarty played Wright on an episode of "Trial By Jury."

Though best known for his acting career, which included a series regular role on the original TV adaptation of "Spenser: For Hire" and turns in "The Postman" and "St. Vincent," McLarty was an author and playwright, and made headlines in 2001 after an audiobook recording of his unpublished novel, "The Memory of Running," won praise from Stephen King. The publicity spurred Penguin Books to buy the rights to the book for $2 million in 2004.

McLarty, who retired from acting after being diagnosed with dementia in 2014, died at the age of 72 on February 8, 2020.

American Theater Hall of Fame member Philip Bosco was a six-time Tony Award nominee (and winner in 1989 for "Lend Me a Tenor") and a veteran character actor in films and on television, most notably in "My Best Friend's Wedding" and the indie "The Savages" with Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

Like many working New York actors, he logged numerous appearances on the "Law & Order" franchise, including five episodes on the flagship series and six guest shots on "Special Victims Unit."

He played defense attorney Gordon Schell on three episodes of "Law & Order," beginning with Season 1's "Happily Ever After" before a one-shot as Dobbs, an attorney who attempted to claim that his mob boss client was mentally incompetent, in Season 8's "Faccia a Faccia." Bosco returned the following season for another one-off turn on "Shield" before moving to "SVU" to play the poker-loving Judge Joseph Terhune on six episodes of that series. His last screen role came with the 2009 indie "When the Evening Comes"; Bosco died as a result of complications from dementia at the age of 88 on December 3, 2018.

When George Dzundza decided to stop playing Sergeant Max Greevey in Season 1 of "Law & Order," the producers tapped another formidable character actor to partner with Detective Mike Logan (Chris Noth). His replacement was Tony-nominated character actor Paul Sorvino, who played Sergeant Phil Cerreta in Seasons 2 and 3. Cereta offered an appealing counterpoint to Greevey: he was tough on criminals, but also compassionate with victims, whereas Greevey could be opinionated and even dismissive of lifestyles and perspectives that differed from his. Sorvino departed "Law & Order" at the end of Season 3 when a drug dealer shot Cerreta.

Sorvino told the Orlando Sentinel that the long production hours were one of the primary reasons for his departure, as well as a desire to preserve his vocal cords for opera, which he pursued concurrently with his long acting career in features and on television. Sorvino, who was perhaps best known as mob chief Paulie Cicero in "Goodfellas" and as Dr. Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone's "Nixon," as well as his real-life role as the father of Oscar winner Mira Sorvino, died at the age of 83 in Jacksonville, Florida on July 25, 2022.

In eight episodes between Seasons 2 and 12 of "Law & Order," lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney's office appeared before Judge Rebecca Stein, who weighed in on cases involving racial issues (Season 7's "Good Girl"), attacks on the homeless (Season 4's "Volunteers"), and Nazi sympathizers (Season 3's "Night and Fog"). Judge Stein was played in all eight episodes by New York stage and television actress Joan Copeland, who was an early member of the Actors Studio and the sister of playwright Arthur Miller.

Copeland — who was also briefly the sister-in-law of Marilyn Monroe during her marriage to Miller from 1956 to 1961 — made her Broadway debut in 1945 and returned to the stage throughout her long career, including a 2001 run in "45 Seconds From Broadway." She was perhaps best known as a cast member of numerous daytime soap operas, including "Search for Tomorrow," "One Life to Life," and "As the World Turns." Copeland also enjoyed character turns in several features, including the Paddy Chayefsky-penned "The Goddess" in 1958 and 2009's "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee," which was written and directed by her niece and Arthur Miller's daughter, Rebecca Miller.

A Drama Desk Winner in 1981 for "The American Clock," Copeland died of natural causes at the age of 99 at her home in New York City on January 4, 2022.

For the majority of 15 seasons on "Law & Order," actor Merwin Goldsmith played arraignment judge Ian Feist. His long run in the role came after an appearance in Season 1's "Mushrooms" as Trial Judge Stanley Gollub, who imposed a sizable bail on a murder suspect played by actor James McDaniel. Goldsmith made his final appearances as Judge Feist in two episodes of Season 15 in 2005.

Goldsmith, who studied acting at London's Old Vic and the Liverpool Playhouse, enjoyed a wide variety of roles in films and on stage and television over the course of his five-decade career. He made his feature film debut in footage shot by a pre-fame Francis Ford Coppola for the 1962 German sex comedy "The Bellboy and the Playgirls" and followed it with a supporting role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Hercules in New York."

By that point, Goldsmith had already made his Broadway debut in the 1970s play "Minnie's Boys," about the Marx Brothers, and would return 10 more times between 1973 and 1993. He also divided his time equally over the next few decades between features and episodic TV. His film credits include "Making Mr. Right," "Quiz Show," and "The Hurricane," which cast him as the real-life judge who denied boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter a new trial. TV appearances included guest roles in the 1983 miniseries "Kennedy," "The Good Wife," and several daytime soaps. Goldsmith died of undisclosed causes at the age of 81 on January 21, 2019.

Film and television actor David Little played no fewer than seven different characters on "Law & Order" and "Criminal Intent." The majority of his appearances on the franchise were as judges and lawyers: the tough but fair Judge Michael Schneider on five episodes of "L&O" in Seasons 14 through 16, defense attorneys Mitch Weiss and Jack Haviland in three "L&O" episodes, and minor character roles on three other "L&O" episodes and a Season 7 episode of "Criminal Intent."

Biographical details on Little are limited, but according to his IMDb profile, he was born in North Carolina and made his screen debut in an obscure 1973 feature called "Running Wild." He worked sporadically in the 1980s, landing guest roles on daytime soaps, but appeared to hit his career stride in the '90s and early 2000s with his "L&O" guest turns and appearances on "The Sopranos" and "Ed." Little continued to work in high-profile TV projects for the next decade, including guest shots on "House of Cards," "The Blacklist," and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." His final film credit was as a bingo caller in 2018's "Ocean's Eight." He died of undisclosed causes at the age of 83 on January 2, 2021.

Like Robert Hogan, actor Bruce MacVittie was a near-constant presence on stage and screen from the early 1980s to 2022. The Rhode Island native, whom the New York Times described as "ubiquitous," appeared in dozens of films and television series, including a total of 11 appearances on "Law & Order," "Special Victims Unit," and "Criminal Intent." MacVittie, who was known for playing tough, street-savvy types, played characters on both sides of the moral fence in his "L&O" guest roles; the most notable of these was a family court judge who became intimately involved with the mother of a custody case he presided over in the Season 7 "CI" episode "Courtship."

MacVittie enjoyed guest roles on series ranging from "Sex and the City" and "Homicide: Life on the Street" to "Miami Vice," and enjoyed a five-episode arc on "The Sopranos" as a juror browbeaten into acquitting Uncle Junior. His feature film work included turns in "Born on the Fourth of July" and "The Doors" for Oliver Stone," as well as "Hannibal" and "Million Dollar Baby." Along with fellow "L&O" vet Ned Eisenberg, he was a co-founder of the Naked Angels theater troupe, and earned considerable respect among his peers for co-starring with Al Pacino in a 1983 revival of "American Buffalo."

MacVittie, who trained as a palliative nurse to care for ailing friends in 2013, died in New York City at the age of 65 on May 7, 2022.

Though a Tony-winning stage actor and a Broadway song-and-dance man at heart, actor Dick Latessa also played his share of streetwise authority figures in films and on television. He was a priest on "The Sopranos" and "The Black Donnellys," a judge on "The Good Wife," and various cops, military men, coaches, and even Sherlock Holmes (on an episode of "Captain Kangaroo") on series ranging from the original "Mission: Impossible" to "Ed." Latessa also turned up in four episodes of "Law & Order" and a single episode of "SVU," for which he again played figures with power and pull: a judge on "SVU," and a bishop, defense attorney, and admiral on "Law & Order."

Latessa was a veteran of numerous stage musicals, including 18 Broadway shows like "Brighton Beach Memories" and "I Oughta Be in Pictures." His biggest success on the Great White Way was in the Broadway run of "Hairspray," for which he played Wilbur Turnblad opposite Harvey Fierstein as his wife, Edna. Latessa captured the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Circle Critic Awards, for his work in the show in 2003.

Latessa continued to work on TV and the stage into his eighth decade, and logged his last small-screen appearance in a 2015 episode of the Bravo comedy series "Odd Mom Out." He died of heart failure the following year on December 19, 2016, at the age of 87.

Raspy-voiced and imposingly built, Richard Bright was made for dangerous characters. He rose to fame playing one in the 1970s: Al Neri, Michael Corleone's fearsome bodyguard and enforcer, who carried out the murder of Fredo Corleone (among many other characters) in "The Godfather Part II." Bright appeared briefly in the role in the first "Godfather" film and reprised it in "The Godfather Part III." He played equally formidable types in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America," "Marathon Man," and several collaborations with director Sam Peckinpah, including "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid."

Bright began acting on television in the late 1950s and enjoyed guest shots on "Cagney and Lacey," "The Equalizer," "Oz," and "The Sopranos," which cast him as an aging but still-terrifying hitman. His work on four episodes of "Law & Order" and a single turn apiece on "SVU" and "Criminal Intent" afforded him a chance to play to his strengths and to stretch out as a character as well. In the "CI" Season 2 episode "Malignant," he played an elderly man who attempted to bring an end to his cancer-stricken wife's suffering, while on the Season 7 "SVU" episode "Name," he was a monstrous child kidnapper and serial killer. The 65-year-old Bright was killed when he was struck by a bus in New York City on February 19, 2006.