The Sopranos star and Broadway veteran Jerry Adler dies at 96

Jerry Adler, the theatre veteran who began in Brooklyn and became a television star, died peacefully on August 23, 2025, at the age of 96. From stage-managing Broadway's first My Fair Lady to being the go-to advisor for Tony Soprano as Hesh Rabkin, Adler's career gave us the ultimate course in reinvention.

We loved seeing him transition from the genius stage manager to the sage on-screen; we were fans, but his contemporaries admired him as well.

Adler was born on February 4, 1929, into a Jewish and Yiddish theatrical family and had the path laid out for him. His father, Philip, owned the Group Theatre on Broadway, and his cousin was the famous acting coach Stella Adler.

He said in a 2015 interview with TheaterMania,

"I'm a product of nepotism,"

remembering how his father called from New York to arrange a gig on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes while he was attending Syracuse University.

Over the years, Adler stage-managed or directed 53 Broadway productions, including The Apple Tree and Coco, and worked with stars like Julie Andrews and Marlene Dietrich.

Adler made the move from Broadway to California because Broadway was in decline during the 1980s, and he was working in soap operas like Santa Barbara.

Then, to his surprise, at the age of 62, he received an offer from director Howard Franklin to appear in The Public Eye (1992). 

“I’d never entertained the idea of acting,”

Adler explained in 2015. However, due to his natural gravitas, he was soon inundated with parts.

Hesh Rabkin: The Sopranos’ moral compass

The role for which Adler is most known is Herman "Hesh" Rabkin, from The Sopranos (1999-2007). Hesh was only written to be a cameo; however, Adler's characterisation as one of the very few characters with any wit or wisdom caught on with fans, and it turned into 28 episodes.

Fans still repeat, "He was just a kid" from the scene in Season 2 where Hesh quipped about another fallen mobster. ​

Another gem, “I’m not in the business of being pushed around” (Season 4), captured his steely resolve. 

In addition to The Sopranos, Adler lit up the screen as Howard Lyman in The Good Wife and the television series Rescue Me, as Sidney Feinberg. His extensive film repertoire— spanning from Manhattan Murder Mystery to A Most Violent Year—showcased how he was one of the rare actors who could deftly transition comfortably from television's hyperbole to proper film.

Adler even kept up some theatre experiences on Broadway by performing a small role in Taller Than a Dwarf (2000) and Larry David's Fish in the Dark (2015).

Jerry Adler: A storyteller legend

Jerry Adler is survived by his wife- Joan Laxman and four daughters. His work touched so many, and calls our intentions forward through the legacy that he created in his lifetime. 

Adler published "Too Funny for Words: Backstage Tales from Broadway, Television, and the Movies" in 2024, a memoir filled with stories from a large part of his life.

He said in an interview with Forward in 2015-

“I do it because I enjoy it. Retirement is a road to nowhere,"

Jerry Adler's life continues as a model of resilience and reinvention. Moving from the unlit backstage world of Broadway to that of the well-lit front-stage world of HBO demonstrates a late-in-life passion that doesn't wane with chronological age.

For many fans who will be rewatching The Sopranos and will remember Hesh's memorable lines, Jerry Adler represents that reinvention is possible at any age.