Jerry Adler, the veteran actor who spent six seasons as Herman “Hesh” Rabkin on The Sopranos, has died. He was 96.
Adler died peacefully in his sleep at his home in New York City on Saturday, a representative for his family confirmed to Entertainment Weekly.
Among those who paid tribute to the actor was Sopranos star Michael Imperioli.
“JERRY ADLER (1929-2025) was a fantastic actor and the kindest of human beings,” he wrote. “He brought so much humor, intelligence and truth to the role of Herman “Hesh” Rabkin and was one of my favorite characters on The Sopranos. I loved working and spending time with Jerry. A true class act. Much love to the family.”
The Good Wife co-creator Robert King, also shared a photo of Adler on the show with the caption, “The intent was only to have him for one episode of The Good Wife, but he was so funny in a diner scene, yelling ‘I said ice cream, you stupid b—-‘ we had him back for six years of Good Wife and three years of Good Fight. One of our favorite collaborators.”
Adler was also remembered by his friend Frank J. Reilly, who shared a carousel of photos.
“The great actor, my friend Jerry Adler died today at the age of 96,” Reilly wrote on X. “You know him from one of his iconic roles [he] had, from many of his guest appearances. Not bad for a guy who didn’t start acting until he was 65.”
Indeed, Adler was a late-in-life actor who first appeared onscreen in his 60s, with a small role in the TV series, Brooklyn Bridge. This was all the more surprising given his cousin, Stella Adler, was a famous acting teacher who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
Born Feb. 4, 1929, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Adler was working in the arts long before his pursuit of acting began. He was a student at Syracuse University when he landed his first gig with help from his father, the then manager of the Group Theater working on a production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. When a job as assistant stage manager opened up, Adler left school to take the job.
From there, he served as stage manager, production manager or production supervisor on several productions, including 1956’s My Fair Lady, starring a 19-year-old Julie Andrews; 1966’s The Apple Tree, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Alan Alda and Barbara Harris; and 1967’s The Homecoming, written by Harold Pinter. He also worked with the likes of Arthur Miller, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles, Angela Lansbury, Noël Coward, Joan Rivers, and Liv Ullmann. His illustrious career included working on over 50 Broadway shows, directing a handful himself, and working as a stage manager for the soap opera Santa Barbara and the 1985 Tony Awards.
“I probably would have retired when I was sixty-five as a stage manager and director,” Adler told TheaterMania in a 2015 interview. “But then at sixty-five, I started acting.”
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“You know what’s interesting?” Adler asked in a 2017 interview with the Connecticut Post. “You spend your whole career backstage. Nobody knows who you are or even knows your name. They don’t know anything about you. And then you do a television show and suddenly you’re a celebrity and everyone knows your face. It’s so weird.”
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