NEW YORK (AP) — Jerry Adler, a stalwart of Broadway’s behind-the-scenes world before transitioning to acting in his 60s, has passed away at the age of 96.
Adler died on Saturday, as noted in a family announcement confirmed by New York’s Riverside Memorial Chapel. He “passed peacefully in his sleep,” according to Sarah Shulman from Paradigm Talent Agency, speaking on behalf of the family. No cause of death was immediately provided.
A prominent figure in acting, Adler’s credits include “The Sopranos,” where he portrayed Tony Soprano adviser Hesh Rabkin across all seasons, and “The Good Wife,” as law partner Howard Lyman. Prior to appearing on camera, Adler had already established himself in theater with 53 Broadway productions, taking roles as a stage manager, producer, or director.
Adler was part of a family deeply entrenched in Jewish and Yiddish theater, about which he shared insights with the Jewish Ledger in 2014. His father, Philip Adler, served as a general manager for well-known productions and the Group Theatre, while his cousin Stella Adler was renowned as an acting teacher.
“I’m a creature of nepotism,” Adler quipped to TheaterMania in 2015. “I got my first job at Syracuse University after my father, a general manager for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, informed me of an assistant stage manager opening. I skipped school.”
Adler enjoyed an illustrious theater career, which included the debut of “My Fair Lady” and collaborations with stars like Marlene Dietrich, Julie Andrews, and Richard Burton. He transitioned away from Broadway during its downturn in the 1980s, relocating to California to work on television series such as the soap opera “Santa Barbara.”
“I was really getting into the twilight of a mediocre career,” he told The New York Times in 1992.
But the retirement he was contemplating was staved off when Donna Isaacson, the casting director for “The Public Eye” and a longtime friend of one of Adler’s daughters, had a hunch about how to cast a hard-to-fill role, as The New York Times reported then. Adler had been on the other side of auditions, and, curious to experience how actors felt, agreed to try out. Director Howard Franklin, who auditioned dozens of actors for the role of a newspaper columnist in the Joe Pesci-starring film, had “chills” when Adler read for the part, the newspaper reported.
So began an acting career that had him working consistently in front of the camera for more than 30 years. An early role on the David Chase-written “Northern Exposure” paved the way for his time on a future Chase project, “The Sopranos.”
“When David was going to do the pilot for ‘The Sopranos’ he called and asked me if I would do a cameo of Hesh. It was just supposed to be a one-shot,” he told Forward in 2015. “But when they picked up the show they liked the character, and I would come on every fourth week.”
Films included Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” but Adler was perhaps best known for his television work. Those credits included stints on “Rescue Me,” “Mad About You,” “Transparent” and guest spots on shows ranging from “The West Wing” to “Broad City.”
He even returned to Broadway, this time onstage, in Elaine May’s “Taller Than a Dwarf” in 2000. In 2015, he appeared in Larry David’s writing and acting stage debut, “Fish in the Dark.”
“I do it because I really enjoy it. I think retirement is a road to nowhere,” Adler told Forward, on the subject of the play. “I wouldn’t know what to do if I were retired. I guess if nobody calls anymore, that’s when I’ll be retired. Meanwhile this is great.”
Adler published a memoir, “Too Funny for Words: Backstage Tales from Broadway, Television and the Movies,” last year. “I’m ready to go at a moment’s notice,” he told CT Insider then, when asked if he’d take more acting roles. In recent years, he and his wife, Joan Laxman, relocated from Connecticut back to his hometown of New York. Survivors include his four daughters, Shulman said.
For Adler, who once thought he was “too goofy-looking” to act, seeing himself on screen was odd, at least initially. And in multiple interviews with various outlets, he expressed how strange it was to be recognized by the public after spending so many years working behind the scenes. There was at least one advantage to being preserved on film, though, as he told The New York Times back in 1992.
“I’m immortal,” he said.
