Jerry Adler Became an Actor in His 60s

Jerry Adler, who worked backstage on Broadway for decades before appearing in regular roles on TV's The Sopranos, The Good Wife, and Rescue Me, has died. He was 96 and died Saturday, his family announced. Referring to Adler's "iconic roles" in a post on X, per People, a friend said, "Not bad for a guy who didn't start acting until he was 65." Adler's career began in 1950, when he was a student at Syracuse University and his father, a theater general manager, offered him a job as assistant stage manager for the Carol Channing musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, per the Hollywood Reporter. "I'm a creature of nepotism," he later said.

The Brooklyn native also worked as a stage manager, director, production manager, or production supervisor for more than 50 shows—staying offstage despite anther family connection; the celebrated acting teacher Stella Adler was his cousin. He moved to California in the 1980s to live closer to his children. Adler made his screen debut at 62 when a friend casting a Joe Pesci film, The Public Eye, called him. Multiple roles followed. He adjusted to the change to luxury hotels and limos. "They make you feel important," Adler told the New York Times.

He played Herman "Hesh" Rabkin for six seasons on The Sopranos, Howard Lyman on CBS' The Good Wife, and Sidney Feinberg on FX's Rescue Me. "You spend your whole career backstage. Nobody knows who you are or even knows your name. They don't know anything about you," Adler said in 2017. "And then you do a television show and suddenly you're a celebrity and everyone knows your face. It's so weird."