The actor Jerry Adler, who portrayed Herman Hesh Rabkin on The Sopranos, passed away.
An obituary notification states that Adler passed away on Saturday, August 23, at the age of 96.
The actor, who was born in Brooklyn and lived in New York, worked for many years as a stage manager and director on Broadway before pursuing acting in his 60s in the 1990s, according to reports from Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter.
Since his cousin was the well-known acting instructor Stella Adler, his family had some knowledge of the topic.
OnDavid Chases Hesh Rabkin, played by Adler in The Sopranos, was a close friend of the Soprano family.
Prior to working as a consigliere for series hero Tony (James Gandolfini), Hesh was acquainted with Tony Soprano’s father, Giovanni Francis Johnny Boy Soprano. Rabkin earned his living in the recording business.
The HBO series premiered Adler’s character in the 1999 pilot.
In addition, Adler portrayed Sidney Feinberg on the FX series Rescue Me, Moshe Pfefferman on Amazon’s Transparent, Sam Stewart on the WB series Raising Dad, Mr. Wicker on NBC’s Mad About You, Howard Lyman on the CBS series The Good Wife, and Rabbi Alan Schulman on CBS Northern Exposure.
He oversaw the stage of the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara behind the TV cameras.
Sidney Lumet’s Find Me Guilty (2006), Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York (2008), Woody Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) starring Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston, and Diane Keaton, and The Public Eye (1992) starring Joe Pesci are just a few of his acting credits.
Adler’s numerous Broadway credits as a backstage talent include Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming (1967), Mike Nichols’ The Apple Tree (1966), and Julie Andrews’s 1956 staging of My Fair Lady.
He was a Broadway veteran and stage manager who collaborated with such luminaries as Richard Rodgers, Angela Lansbury, Katharine Hepburn, and Zero Mostel.
On social media, Adler’s co-stars paid tribute to him.
Ray Abruzzo shared pictures of the late great Jerry Adler on Instagram late Saturday night. Rest in peace, Adler.
On The Sopranos, Abruzzo portrayed Little Carmine Lupertazzi.
Adler is speaking with Dominic Chianese, who portrayed Uncle Junior in the program, in the first two pictures he posted.
David Chase interrupted me in the middle of our conversation and asked if I had my phone. Take a quick photo of those two! “Abruzzo said.”
While he and Adler were working on another series, Abruzzo’s wife took a third picture.
Abruzzo described him as a charming man who led an incredible life in show business.
Psychotherapist Joan Laxman, Adler’s wife of almost 30 years, is his surviving spouse.
Stories by
Amy Kuperinsky
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