Jerry Adler, Broadway stage veteran and Sopranos actor, dies at 96

Jerry Adler, a Brooklyn-born actor whose late-blooming screen career belied a lifetime of backstage influence, has died at 96. His death was confirmed by a longtime friend and came after a career that bridged Broadway stage management, directing and a string of memorable television and film roles, including as Hesh Rabkin on The Sopranos, Howard Lyman on The Good Wife and its spinoff The Good Fight, and the NYFD deputy chief Sidney Feinberg on Rescue Me.

Adler’s path to acting began in the theater, where he spent decades behind the scenes. Born on February 4, 1929, in Brooklyn, he was the cousin of famed acting teacher Stella Adler and followed a family tradition of working in the performing arts. His father, Philip Adler, was the general manager of the Group Theatre, which set the stage for Jerry Adler’s own longstanding involvement in Broadway productions. He recalled that he “was a creature of nepotism” in his early days, taking an assistant stage manager post while still in college, and he would go on to serve as stage manager, production manager or production supervisor on a string of influential shows, including a 1956 revival of My Fair Lady, the 1952 revival of Of Thee...