Jerry Adler, the Brooklyn-born actor whose career spanned Broadway backstage and stage management to memorable television roles, died on August 23 at the age of 96. The death was confirmed by Riverside Memorial Chapel.
Adler hailed from a deeply theatrical family. His father, Philip Adler, was a theatre manager for dozens of Broadway and touring shows from the 1930s through the 1960s, and his great-uncle was Yiddish theatre actor Jacob Pavlovich Adler. Raised in a Yiddish-speaking home, Adler followed his father into the theatre world, starting out as a stage manager before moving into production and direction.
On Broadway, Adler managed or supervised an ambitious slate of productions, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, My Fair Lady, Camelot and many others. He expanded his reach as a producer and director as well, with a stint producing the ill-fated Drat! The Cat! and directing a number of well-received shows, such as Good Evening, Words & Music, Fun City, Checking Out, and the 1976 revival of My Fair Lady.
In the 1980s, Adler relocated to California to be closer to his children and found work on the soap opera circuit. By the 1990s, he began acting on screen, with a breakout performance in The Public Eye (1992) opposite Joe Pesci. Screenwriter David Chase later recruited him to play Herman “Hesh” Rabkin on The Sopranos, where he appeared from 1999 to 2007 and became a fan favorite as the associate of the DiMeo crime family.
Beyond The Sopranos, Adler remained a prolific presence on screen, taking on roles such as Howard Lyman on The Good Wife and The Good Fight, Mr. Wicker on Mad About You, Bob Saget’s father on Raising Dad, Moshe Pfefferman on Transparent, and Saul Horowitz on Broad City. He also delivered a memorable one-episode turn as Toby Ziegler’s father on The West Wing and starred in A Most Violent Year alongside Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac.
Adler returned to Broadway as an actor in 2000’s Taller Than a Dwarf and again in 2015’s Fish in the Dark by Larry David. In 2024, he published his memoir, Too Funny for Words: Backstage Tales from Broadway, Television and the Movies, offering a window into decades of behind-the-scenes and on-screen work.
Adler’s life bridged the high drama of the Broadway stage and the intimate storytelling of television and film. His work touched generations of performers and audiences, and his memoir provides a personal snapshot of a half-century spent in the art form he clearly loved.
Additional notes for publication
– Consider adding a photo collage of Adler’s Broadway appearances and screen roles to accompany the piece.
– A brief timeline highlighting key milestones (Broadway productions, switch to screen, major TV roles, and the memoir release) could help readers quickly grasp his expansive career.
– Readers might be encouraged to explore Too Funny for Words to gain more personal anecdotes from his storied career.