Daily Times

Steven Hill, who starred for years as District Attorney Adam Schiff on Law & Order, has died at the age of 94.

The actor passed away on August 23 in Monsey, New York, his daughter Sarah Gobioff told The New York Times.

Hill was part of the original cast of Law & Order when the show premiered in 1990, and he stayed with the programme for its first 10 seasons.

Franchise creator Dick Wolf praised his talents and paid tribute to Hill in a statement which read: “Steven was not only one of the truly great actors of his generation, he was one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. He is also the only actor I’ve known who consistently tried to cut his own lines. He will be missed but fortunately he can be seen ubiquitously on Law & Order reruns.”

Hill was also part of another iconic TV series, Mission: Impossible, on which he portrayed the original leader of the Impossible Missions Force, Daniel Briggs.

Throughout his five decades in show-business, he appeared on TV hits The Untouchables, Ben Casey, One Life to Live, Thirty something and Columbo, and films like Yentl, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Billy Bathgate, and The Firm.

Hill was also one of the original members of renowned New York school The Actors Studio.