Actually, Jerry Orbach (or Lenny Briscoe from Law & Order) was a Tony award winning performer long before being cast first as Baby's Father in "Dirty Dancing", and later as the lead detective in L&O. In the Beauty and the Beast DVD, he discusses how people were shocked to learn he was Lumiere, but just as many were shocked when they first saw him on TV, because they were used to his stage performances for so many years.
Sadly, Detective Lenny Briscoe passed away in early 2005 from his fight with cancer. They completely removed his new L&O franchise from the air because without him, it wasn't good. He will be missed, he was recently honored by AFI as one of TV's 20 most memorable police characters.