Rey Curtis

Reynaldo "Rey" Curtis was a fictional character on the TV drama Law & Order, played by Benjamin Bratt from 1995 to 1999.</p>

Joining the 27th Precinct as a Homicide detective in 1995, Curtis approached police work from a radically different perspective than his predecessor, Mike Logan. While Logan was unpredictable and sometimes crossed into legal and ethical gray areas, the conservative, devoutly Catholic Curtis did his job strictly by-the-book with no exceptions and saw it in black-and-white: If someone breaks a law, they deserve to go to jail, period. This strict, moralistic work ethic initially caused a lot of friction with his partner, Lennie Briscoe.

In 1996, Curtis, who was married with three children, had a brief affair with a college student. While undergoing marriage counseling, Curtis' wife, Debra, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, further throwing his life into disarray. It was then that he really bonded with Briscoe, a veteran of three failed marriages, and began to soften his formerly strict, two-dimensional worldview. He remained politically conservative, however, disapproving of stem cell research and especially affirmative action; Curtis, who was Hispanic, felt he had made it on his own merits and resented the suggestion that minorities needed an added advantage.

Curtis and Briscoe had become very close over the next two years, so much so that Curtis' children called Briscoe "Uncle Lennie." Briscoe leaned on Curtis heavily when his daughter, Cathy, was murdered in 1998.

By 1999, Debra's MS had worsened considerably, to the point that she could hardly hold a toothbrush on her own. Curtis retired to take care of her. He was replaced by Ed Green.