Trivia / L.A. Law

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Diana Muldaur's departure from the series resulted in her character Rosalind Shays fatally falling into an open elevator shaft. Muldaur did not know that her character was being killed off before reading the script. Note that this was not due to production issues with Muldaur herself. Rather, most of the writers hated writing scenes for the manipulative and (in-universe) unlikeable Rosalind Shays, and felt that her presence was ruining the show. Executive producer and writer David E. Kelley, however, claimed in an "Emmy TV Legends" interview that he loved Shays, and had her killed off because he was leaving the series, and didn't want her characterization to be mishandled by the other writers.
  • Either way it was decided, Rosalind Shays' death was highly unusual at the time, as most TV character deaths before the mid-'90s (when NYPD Blue, yet another groundbreaking Steven Bochco series, premiered), occured either during a season finale, or between seasons. Shays death in the middle of a regular episode (which was neither a season premier, a season closer, nor a Very Special Episode), shocked the viewers, and remains one of the most memorable moments of American drama from late '80s and early '90s.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Married Couple: Actors Michael Tucker (Stuart Markowitz) and Jill Eikenberry (Ann Kelsey) were already married for 12 years when they were cast as Markowitz and Kelsey, who (at the start of the series) weren't even dating yet.
  • Son and Mother: Corbin Bernsen (Arnie Becker)'s mother, Jeanne Cooper, plays Becker's mother, Gladys.
  • Married Couple: Alan Rachins (Douglas Brackman)'s wife, Joanna Frank, plays Brackman's wife, Sheila. Joanna Frank is co-creator Steven Bochco's sister.
  • Married Couple: Sheila Kelley (Gwen Taylor)'s husband Richard Schiff portrayed a dog pound operator in a 1992 episode.
    • Both Richard Schiff and John Spencer (Tommy Mullaney), would both later co-star in The West Wing.
• Shout-Out: Steven Bochco referred to one of his previous series by calling a season 2 episode The Bald Ones.
  • Bochco also referenced Hill Street Blues in the season 5 episode Speak, Lawyers, for Me with the Phil Esterhaus quote: "Let's be careful out there."
• You Look Familiar: Standouts would be Conchata Ferrell, A Martinez and Alan Rosenberg, who all played one-shot characters in early seasons and came back to play series regulars later on. A few day-players appeared twice as different characters throughout the series' run.