Jerry Adler, a former Broadway producer and manager who turned to acting in his sixties and became known to audiences as Hesh Rabkin on “The Sopranos,” died Saturday. He was 96.
Adler’s death was confirmed by the Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York.
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After decades working behind the scenes on Broadway and in television production, he weighed retirement before the casting director on the 1992 thriller “The Public Eye,” a friend of one of Adler’s daughters, convinced him to read for director Howard Franklin. His role instantly positioned him as an in-demand character actor for the rest of his life.
On HBO’s “The Sopranos,” Adler featured across all six seasons as Hesh Rabkin, a Jewish loan shark who was a friend of Tony Soprano’s father and remains an advisor to James Gandolfini’s lead throughout the series. Adler also featured on FX’s firefighter drama “Rescue Me” as the fire chief Sidney Feinberg, and played the lawyer Howard Lyman on CBS’s “The Good Wife.”
Film credits include Woody Allen’s comedy “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” the J.C. Chandor period thriller “A Most Violent Year” and, in his nineties, featuring in Andrew Ahn’s thoughtful indie drama “Driveways.”
Born Feb. 4, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York, Adler was destined for the entertainment industry. His father was general manager for the Group Theatre and Broadway productions; his cousin was Stella Adler, one of the most prominent acting teachers in history. In his backstage career, Adler notched over 50 credits on Broadway productions. In the 1980s, he moved to California and began working in television.
Adler published a memoir, “Too Funny for Words: Backstage Tales From Broadway, Television and the Movies,” in 2024.
He is survived by his wife, Joan Laxman.
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