Mariska Hargitay is ready for some time away from the cameras and delivered an emotional goodbye in more ways than one this week.
The Law & Order SVU veteran shared an update about the NBC show before adding sad news of someone very special to her and the drama.
Taking to Instagram, Mariska posted a photo of herself alongside her cast mates and revealed they’d wrapped filming on the current season.
© InstagramShe wrote: “And that’s a wrap on season 26! Thank you team happy hiatus,” and her fans and famous friends commented that they’ll miss seeing her on TV but to enjoy her break.
However, Mariska’s next social media post sparked a different reaction as she paid tribute to legendary TV and film director and producer Ted Kotcheff whose huge body of work included many episodes of Law & Order SVU.
Mariska posted photos of her with Ted through the years and penned a heartfelt post about the cinematic legend.
“I have encountered few artistic flames that have burned as brightly and for so long as Ted Kotcheff’s,” she wrote. “He was a fierce, bold, lion of a man, uncommonly articulate, with a wealth of experience and a portfolio of cinematic knowledge few can claim.”
Mariska called him her “teacher and friend,” and said he had “made my success a priority in his life.”
© NBCShe concluded her message by saying: “I will miss you immensely. Goodbye for now. Big kiss darling.”
Her fans called her tribute “beautiful,” and said: “May his memory always shine.”
Ted died on April 10 at the age of 94.
© Getty ImagesHe worked for 13 seasons as an executive producer on the Dick Wolf series but was also famous for the likes of Weekend at Bernies, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Fun With Dick and Jane, and North Dallas Forty.
Ted cast Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay as detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson on Law & Order SVU.
© GettyAccording to The Hollywood Reporter, his assistant once told him he had auditioned more than 27,000 actors for SVU.
“I’ve used just about every actor in New York,” Ted said at the time.
When he bid farewell to the show in 2012 after more than 280 episodes, he admitted: “It was one of the richest — and certainly the longest contiguous — experiences of my career.”
