Best known for his role as Tony Soprano’s adviser Hesh Rabkin in The Sopranos, Jerry Adler died “peacefully” in his sleep, a representative confirmed on Sunday 24th of August by the Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York. Jerry spent most of his formative years on Broadway before he landed a role in the hit TV series in his mid sixties. After casting him in Northern Exposure, the writer David Chase bought him on for The Sopranos pilot but ended up casting him for a regular slot. “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.
“But when they picked up the show they liked the character, and I would come on every fourth week.”
Until The Sopranos, Jerry was relatively “mediocre” with small parts in shows such as “Brooklyn Bridge,” “Alright Already,” “Hudson Street,” and the film “Manhattan Murder Mystery”.
“I was really getting into the twilight of a mediocre career,” he told The New York Times
After The Sopranos, Jerry went on to land a role in legal drama “The Good Wife”.
Jerry hailed from a Jewish entertainment family with roots in Yiddish theater. His father Phillip Adler worked in production on Broadway and his cousin Stella was an acting coach.
© Getty ImagesAs such Jerry described himself as a “creature of nepotism”.
“I’m a creature of nepotism,” he told TheaterMania. “I got my first job when I was at Syracuse University and my father, the general manager of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, called me [because] there was an opening for an assistant stage manager. I skipped school.”
© CBS via Getty ImagesJerry even returned to Broadway after his onscreen career died down. “I do it because I really enjoy it. I think retirement is a road to nowhere,” he told Forward. “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.”
© Getty ImagesJerry’s friend Frank J Reilly took to platform X to share a tribute. “The great actor, my friend Jerry Adler died today at the age of 96,” he wrote. “You know him from one of his iconic roles had [sic] from many of his guest appearances. Not bad for a guy who didn’t start acting until he was 65.”
Jerry is survived by his four daughters.
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