Law & Order's Dennis Farina Dies
by EG
Dennis Farina, the 69-year-old actor who had portrayed Detective Joe Fontana on the TV series "Law & Order," passed away on Monday.
According to his publicist, Farina suffered a blood clot in his lung.
Farina was born in Chicago in 1949, and he served on the city's police department for 18 years, from 1967 to 1985. His early roles as an actor, however, were on the other side of the law; he played mobsters in the films "Midnight Run" and "Get Shorty," as well as in TV's "Miami Vice."
He replaced Jerry Orbach on "Law & Order" after Orbach died in 2004; Farina left the show after two seasons. More recently, he appeared in episodes of HBO's "Luck" and Fox's "New Girl."
Farina is survived by three sons and six grandchildren.