{"id":147854,"date":"2025-08-24T08:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T08:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/24\/the-sopranos-the-good-wife-actor-was-96\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T13:06:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T13:06:39","slug":"the-sopranos-the-good-wife-actor-was-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/24\/the-sopranos-the-good-wife-actor-was-96\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Sopranos’ & ‘The Good Wife’ JERRY ADLER passed away at the age of 96"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Veteran actor Jerry Adler, best known for his memorable roles in shows like\u00a0The Sopranos<\/em>,\u00a0The Good Wife<\/em>, and\u00a0Rescue Me<\/em>, has passed away at the age of 96. His family confirmed the news, and longtime friend Frank J. Reilly shared a heartfelt tribute on social media, writing: \u201cThe great actor, my friend Jerry Adler died today at the age of 96. You know him from one of his iconic roles or many of his guest appearances. Not bad for a guy who didn\u2019t start acting until he was 65.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adler broke out late in life but quickly became a familiar face on screen. On\u00a0The Sopranos<\/em>, he played Hesh Rabkin, the wise and steady consigliere to James Gandolfini\u2019s Tony Soprano. But he showed his range too\u2014like playing the blunt lawyer Howard Lyman in\u00a0The Good Wife<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Good Fight<\/em>, and Deputy Chief Sidney Feinberg in the firefighter drama\u00a0Rescue Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Born in Brooklyn in 1929, Adler came from a theater family. His cousin was legendary acting teacher Stella Adler, and his dad worked at New York\u2019s Group Theatre. Jerry got his start backstage\u2014he even skipped classes at Syracuse University to work as an assistant stage manager on\u00a0Gentlemen Prefer Blondes<\/em>. He later joked, \u201cI\u2019m a creature of nepotism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before cameras loved him, Broadway knew him well. He worked on more than 50 shows, including the original production of\u00a0My Fair Lady<\/em>\u00a0with a 19-year-old Julie Andrews. He also directed on Broadway and stage-managed everything from the soap\u00a0Santa Barbara<\/em>\u00a0to the Tony Awards.<\/p>\n

But in his 60s, just as he was thinking about retirement, Adler stumbled into acting. And it stuck. He went on to guest star in tons of fan favorites\u2014Quantum Leap<\/em>,\u00a0Northern Exposure<\/em>,\u00a0The West Wing<\/em>,\u00a0Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/em>,\u00a0Broad City<\/em>\u2014and appeared in films like\u00a0Manhattan Murder Mystery<\/em>,\u00a0In Her Shoes<\/em>, and\u00a0Driveways<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Even late in life, he never lost his sense of wonder about being recognized. \u201cHaving done so many shows on Broadway backstage in the dark, to be recognized now is so weird,\u201d he once said. \u201cWhen I walk down the street now, it\u2019s like \u2018Hey, Hesh!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jerry Adler\u2019s career was a masterclass in reinvention\u2014proof that it\u2019s never too late to become the character everyone remembers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Veteran actor Jerry Adler, best known for his memorable roles in shows like\u00a0The Sopranos,\u00a0The Good Wife, and\u00a0Rescue Me, has passed away at the age of 96. His family confirmed the news, and longtime friend Frank J. Reilly shared a heartfelt tribute on social media, writing: \u201cThe great actor, my friend Jerry Adler died today at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[736,12764,12757],"class_list":{"0":"post-147854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-actor","9":"tag-jerry-adler","10":"tag-sopranos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}