The Law & Order franchise has been going so strong for so long that it’s rarely surprising to discover that actors have played multiple different characters across the various shows over the years. That doesn’t mean appearing on shows like SVU and Criminal Intent is glamorous for performers, and Betty Gilpin – who has gone on to projects like GLOW, The Tomorrow War, and recently Roar – shared a story about how her role in one Law & Order series resulted in being left zipped up in a body bag.
Betty Gilpin dropped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and got onto the subject of appearing in the Law & Order universe as a rite of passage for actors in New York City. She shared that she has actually appeared as several different characters across three L&O shows. The actress reflected on playing “a pedophile with vocal fry” on SVU and a “lesbian with acne” on the original series, but it was on Criminal Intent (which ran for ten seasons from 2001-2011) that she spent a little too much time inside of a body bag.
On Criminal Intent in 2006, she portrayed the dead daughter of a character played by Fran Drescher, and Betty Gilpin opened up about the experience. Her “dead body” was found naked by Vincent D’Onofrio’s Robert Goren in an oil drum, many years before intimacy coordinators became widely used in the entertainment industry. (In fact, Law & Order used one in 2022 for a key scene.) The actress said:
We filmed the scene of them zipping up the body bag… at a remote beach. This was my first job ever, and I remember them zipping up the body bag and Vincent D’Onofrio had a grumbly scene over my body bag, and I just had to sort of be in there. And then they called cut. They were like, ‘That’s lunch, guys, great day.’ And I hear footsteps on gravel getting farther and farther away, van doors closing, and then ten seconds goes by. I hear one far away PA being like, ‘Oh my god!’ Footsteps coming towards me, unzipped, sunlight in my face. ‘Let’s get you out of there!’
Well, at least there was one production assistant who was paying close enough attention to remember that the live woman who was playing the dead body was still zipped up in the body bag! Luckily, the unfortunate situation on her first job ever didn’t discourage her from the acting biz… or even from the Law & Order franchise, which is now part of a nine-show shared TV universe.
After her 2006 debut in the franchise, Gilpin is credited with playing a second Criminal Intent character in 2009, which was also the year that she debuted as a third character on the original Law & Order. A few years later in 2012, she played her fourth character when she appeared in Law & Order: SVU.
She’s a busy enough actress nowadays that she may not be likely to guest star in the Law & Order universe again any time soon, but I for one would love to see her at least cameo on Law & Order: Organized Crime so she could add her fourth L&O show and fifth L&O character to her resume.
For now, it’s not hard to find Betty Gilpin's earlier appearances in the franchise, as Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, and the original Law & Order are all available streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription. You can also find some more viewing options now and in the not-too-distant future with our 2023 TV premiere schedule
