Jerry Adler, a Broadway veteran who helped bring some of theater’s most iconic productions to life before reinventing himself as a TV actor on “The Sopranos,” “The Good Wife” and “Rescue Me,” died Saturday in New York City. He was 96.
His publicist said the actor “passed peacefully in his sleep,” The Guardian reported.
Born in Brooklyn, Adler spent decades behind the scenes before finding success on screen. He began working as an assistant stage manager on the early-1950s musical “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” before moving on to major productions that defined midcentury Broadway, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He stage-managed or supervised “Of Thee I Sing” (1952), “My Fair Lady” (1956), “The Apple Tree” (1966), and Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming” (1967). He also directed several Broadway shows and worked with theater figures including Arthur Miller, Marlene Dietrich, Angela Lansbury, and Orson Welles.
Adler contributed to the original productions of “Annie” and “Mark Twain Tonight!” with his behind-the-scenes work that made him a fixture of New York theater for more than three decades.
It wasn’t until his ’60s that Adler shifted to acting. He made his TV debut on a 1991 episode of CBS’ “Brooklyn Bridge,” followed by a role in the 1992 Joe Pesci film “The Public Eye.” From there, he began a steady stream of screen roles.
On HBO’s “The Sopranos,” Adler became widely recognized as Herman “Hesh” Rabkin, a music-business insider and confidant to Tony Soprano. He went on to play Howard Lyman, a blustery attorney on CBS’ “The Good Wife,” and fire chief Sidney Feinberg on FX’s “Rescue Me.” He also appeared in “Northern Exposure,” “Mad About You,” “Transparent,” and “Broad City.”
His film credits included Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery” (1993), “In Her Shoes” (2005), Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” (2008), and “A Most Violent Year” (2014).
Adler eventually returned to Broadway as an actor. He made his debut in Elaine May’s “Taller Than a Dwarf” (2000) and later appeared in Larry David’s “Fish in the Dark” (2015).
He published his memoir, “Too Funny for Words: Backstage Tales From Broadway, Television, and the Movies,” in 2024.
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