S. Epatha Merkerson singled out Jerry Stiller as her “most favorite” guest star from Law & Order, and she did it with the kind of specificity that only comes from a long run inside the same production. The interview lands years after her 17-season stretch on the show, which gave her enough distance to rank one guest above a deep bench of names.
“Jerry Stiller was probably one of our favorites. I think he was on with me and Ben [Bratt] and Jerry [Orbach], but he was just such a nice guy. He was funny. He had great stories,” Merkerson said in an interview with PEOPLE. Stiller appeared on the series in 1993 and again in 1996, giving her memory two separate points to draw from rather than a single brief encounter.
Merkerson and the guest-star bench
17 seasons on Law & Order is enough time to see the guest-star system at work, and Merkerson said the field was crowded from the start. “There were many because, at the time the original show was working, it was pretty much the only thing in town,” she said, a line that fits the way the series pulled in a wide range of actors across its run.
1991 is where Merkerson’s own Law & Order story begins, and 1993 is where it becomes part of the show’s core. She first appeared on the series in 1991, then began playing Lieutenant Anita Van Buren in 1993, a role that ran through 2010 and made her one of the franchise’s most durable fixtures.
Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
“I would be walking the streets, and I might pass some police officers, and they’d go, ‘Oh, hey, Lieu,’” Merkerson said. That recognition still follows the character, not just the actor, and it shows how deeply the role stuck with viewers who treated Lieutenant Anita Van Buren as part of the show’s furniture.
“Jesse and I were very close. He’s like a little brother to me. And Ben and I stay in touch. I stay in touch with Jill [Hennessy]. That kind of family, you just don’t drop.” Merkerson also said her favorite pairing to work with was Dennis Farina and Jesse Martin, which gives a clearer picture of the ensemble relationships behind the on-screen hierarchy.
Law & Order after 2010
2010 ended Merkerson’s run as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren, but her comments make clear that the show’s cast network did not end with her final episode. She said Law & Order “made a huge impact” and changed “the way it was shot with the moving camera constantly moving,” which is the kind of technical legacy that tends to outlast any single guest appearance.
The sharpest takeaway is simple: if you want the measure of a long-running series, look at who the veterans remember most. Merkerson’s choice of Jerry Stiller is less about nostalgia than about what the show rewarded best — strong scenes, memorable voices, and actors who could leave a mark inside one episode, then vanish and still be talked about years later.
