The Daily Beast: It’s fitting if, when you think of Dennis Farina, you think of one of his many crime-fighting characters. The formidable actor, who died Monday at age 69, spent almost 20 years as a police officer in Chicago before breaking out on the big screen in Michael Mann’s Thief in 1981. Over the years he’s played memorable characters from both sides of the law in films like Midnight Run and Get Shorty, while many probably remember him best for succeeding Jerry Orbach on Law & Order. He was the rarest of actors, one as at home doling one-liners on sitcoms (like New Girl, his most recent screen performance) as he was in dramatic epics like Saving Private Ryan.
He was absolutely fantastic in Get Shorty. It was the first thing I ever saw him in back when I was a kid, and IMO he made an already great movie even better.
RIP.
I always liked how he played his character on Law and Order.
RIP Dennis Farina and thanks for trying to keep the peace for 20 years in Chicago.
I actually liked him in everything he did but I saw Crime story once when he was younger and he was awesome...so sad he is gone and for me that is too young these days.