Jerry Adler, the actor and theatre director best known for his long-running role on The Sopranos, has died at 96.

Adler’s death was announced on Saturday by his family and confirmed in a post on X by his friend Frank J. Reilly.

‘The esteemed actor and my dear friend Jerry Adler passed away today at 96,’ Reilly shared, while posting photos of Adler in some of his notable roles, including a picture of himself with his late companion. ‘You may recognize him from one of his legendary roles or his numerous guest appearances. Not too shabby for someone who didn’t start acting until the age of 65. Take a look at his IMDb page.’

The departed actor had a long-standing career in the theatre, yet he was a late entrant to on-screen roles, beginning his film and television appearances in the early 1990s.

One of his initial significant film roles was in Woody Allen’s well-regarded mystery–comedy Manhattan Murder Mystery in 1993. He also had key roles on shows like Mad About You, Rescue Me, The Good Wife, and Transparent.

But it was his role on the era-defining HBO series The Sopranos as Herman ‘Hesh’ Rabkin that defined Adler’s legacy.

Jerry Adler, the actor and theatre director best known for his long-running role on The Sopranos, has died at 96; pictured in 2014 in NYC

He played Herman ‘Hesh’ Rabkin, a Jewish loan shark and former recording industry executive who was one of the most trusted advisors to Tony Soprano (the late James Gandolfini) on HBO’s era-defining series; pictured with Gandolfini on The Sopranos

His character was a Jewish loan shark and former recording industry executive who was one of the most trusted advisors to Tony Soprano (played by the late James Gandolfini).

Adler made his series debut on the pilot episode and continued with the series well into its sixth and final season in 2007.

Gandolfini later died in 2013 at age 51 of a heart attack.

Adler’s first major recurring series character was on Mad About You, on which he played the building maintenance man, Mr. Wicker.

He was a recurring character on the later seasons of the Denis Leary starring firefighter series Rescue Me, and he was featured on 30 episodes of CBS’ The Good Wife, as well as two more episodes in which he reprised his character, Howard Lyman, on the sequel series The Good Fight.

Adler’s final television roles were all in 2019, including a humorous turn as a Holocaust survivor who leaves his assisted-living home for a day out with his distant relative (played by series co-lead Ilana Glazer), only for her to lose track of him at a drag brunch.

Adler, who was born on February 4, 1929, in Brooklyn, got his first big break in the theatre thanks to his father, Philip Adler, who had been a stage manager for major Broadway productions.

The senior Adler was working on a production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1950, a year after its debut, when he approached his son — then a student at the University of Syracuse — to offer him the role of assistant stage manager. 

‘I skipped school,’ Adler admitted in a 2015 interview with TheaterMania, in which he joked, ‘I’m a creature of nepotism.’

Adler made his series debut on the pilot and continued with The Sopranos into its final season in 2007. Gandolfini died at 51 in 2013 of a heart attack; pictured in 2004 on top (L–R): Sopranos stars Steve Schirripa, George Loros, Adler, Arthur J. Nascarella, Dan Grimaldi, Gandolfini, Tony Darrow and Robert Funaro. Bottom row: Joseph Gannascoli, Tony Sirico and Steven Van Zandt

Adler worked in the theatre for decades and was the brother of famed acting teacher Stella Adler, but he only began appearing in films and TV in the 1990s when he was in his 60s; seen on The Good Wife