Jerry Adler, who spent decades on the stage on Broadway before reinventing himself in his 60 years as a television actor, more memorably as Herman “Hesh” Rabkin in “The Sopranos” by HBO and Howard Lyman in “The Good Wife” of CBS, has died. He was 96 years old.
Adler died on Saturday in New York, where he lived, according to his family. A cause was not revealed.
In “The Sopranos”, Adler played Hesh, a Jewish music producer and shark borrowed with long links with the soprano crime family. He is not a member of the internal crew of Tony Soprano, but close enough to be confident, he was one of the few who could speak without surroundings with the chief of the mafia of James Gandolfini without fear of reprisals. Adler remained with his 1999 pilot's series until the final season in 2007, a constant presence on the margins of the world of Tony.
Hesh appeared in some of the most memorable arches of the program, helping Tony Christopher's protected and his girlfriend Adriana in his unfortunate stab in the music business, joining Tony in an adventure of horse racing and, in the final season, watching his sour relationship when the boss pressed him for a large loan.
Steven Van Zandt, a “sopranos” cast partner of Adler for the Bruce Springsteen Street band, paid tribute to Adler on social networks: “Such honor working with you. Travel well friend of mine.”
While “The Sopranos” launched several previously little known actors to instant fame, Adler's rise was unusual, the culmination of more than four decades passed behind the scene on Broadway before he once faced a camera.
A Brooklyn native born on February 4, 1929, Adler began his career as a stage manager in 1950 in “The gentlemen prefer blondes” and went to work as a stage manager, production manager or supervisor in more than 50 shows, including the original “My Fair Lady”, “The Homecoming” by Harold Pinter “and” The Apple Tree, led by Mike Nichols. He also directed several productions.
In the 1980s, he had moved to Los Angeles to be closer to his children and found a stable job on day television as stage director. It was not until the 60s that the performance entered the image. After debuting about the “Brooklyn Bridge” of CBS in 1991, Adler found a constant work and television work as an actor of characters through the 1990s, appearing in “The Public Eye” by Joe Pesci (1992) and “Manhattan Mystery” by Woody Allen (1993).
After “The Sopranos”, Adler remained a family presence on television. He joined “The Good Wife” in 2011 as Howard Lyman, a windy partner and out of contact in the Lockhart/Gardner law firm. What initially destined to be a unique guest place became a recurring role in six seasons, with Adler repeating the role in “The Good Figh” in 2017 and 2018.
Adler also resorted to “rescue me” of FX as head of firefighters Sidney Feinberg and appeared in series ranging from “North Exhibition” and “Mad About You” to “Transparent” and “Broad City”. His film credits include “In Her Shoes” (2005), “Synecdoche, New York” (2008) and “One more violent year” (2014).
Adler returned to Broadway as an afternoon interpreter in life, appearing in the comedy of Elaine May 2000 “High than a dwarf” and “Fish in the Dark” by Larry David in 2015. Adler's last credit came in the 2019 Renaissance season of “Mad About You”. In 2024, he published a memory, “Too Funny for Words: Backstage Tales de Broadway, television and movies”, reflecting on its unusual path through the show business.
On Instagram, the co -star of “sopranos” Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher, praised Adler as “a fantastic actor and the friendliest of human beings. He brought so much humor, intelligence and truth to the role of Herman 'Hesh' Rabkin and was one of my favorite characters in 'The sopranos'. I loved working and spending time with Jerry.
The survivors include his wife, Joan Laxman, with whom he married in 1994, and his daughters, Alisa, Amy, Laura and Emily.
