After beginning his acting career in his 60s, Adler spent six seasons as Herman &34;Hesh&34; Rabkin on the hit HBO drama. Jerry Adler, The Sopranos and The Good

After beginning his acting career in his 60s, Adler spent six seasons as Herman "Hesh" Rabkin on the hit HBO drama.

Jerry Adler, The Sopranos and *The Good Wife *actor, dies at 96

After beginning his acting career in his 60s, Adler spent six seasons as Herman "Hesh" Rabkin on the hit HBO drama.

By Shania Russell

Published on August 24, 2025 11:53AM EDT

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Jerry Adler attends 'The Good Wife' finale party in 2016. Credit:

Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

Jerry Adler, the veteran actor who spent six seasons as Herman "Hesh" Rabkin on *The Sopranos*, has died. He was 96.

Adler died peacefully in his sleep at his home in New York City on Saturday, a representative for his family confirmed to **.

Among those who paid tribute to the actor was *Sopranos* star Michael Imperioli.

"JERRY ADLER (1929-2025) was a fantastic actor and the kindest of human beings," he wrote. "He brought so much humor, intelligence and truth to the role of Herman "Hesh" Rabkin and was one of my favorite characters on The Sopranos. I loved working and spending time with Jerry. A true class act. Much love to the family."

*The Good Wife* co-creator Robert King, also shared a photo of Adler on the show with the caption, "The intent was only to have him for one episode of *The Good Wife*, but he was so funny in a diner scene, yelling 'I said ice cream, you stupid b----' we had him back for six years of *Good Wife* and three years of *Good Fight*. One of our favorite collaborators."

Jerry Adler on 'The Good Wife'.

Thomas Concordia/CBS via Getty

Adler was also remembered by his friend Frank J. Reilly, who shared a carousel of photos.

"The great actor, my friend Jerry Adler died today at the age of 96," Reilly wrote on X. "You know him from one of his iconic roles [he] had, from many of his guest appearances. Not bad for a guy who didn't start acting until he was 65."

Indeed, Adler was a late-in-life actor who first appeared onscreen in his 60s, with a small role in the TV series, *Brooklyn Bridge*. This was all the more surprising given his cousin, Stella Adler, was a famous acting teacher who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

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Born Feb. 4, 1929, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Adler was working in the arts long before his pursuit of acting began. He was a student at Syracuse University when he landed his first gig with help from his father, the then manager of the Group Theater working on a production of *Gentlemen Prefer Blondes*. When a job as assistant stage manager opened up, Adler left school to take the job.

From there, he served as stage manager, production manager or production supervisor on several productions, including 1956's *My Fair Lady*, starring a 19-year-old Julie Andrews; 1966's *The Apple Tree*, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Alan Alda and Barbara Harris; and 1967's *The Homecoming*, written by Harold Pinter. He also worked with the likes of Arthur Miller, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles, Angela Lansbury, Noël Coward, Joan Rivers, and Liv Ullmann. His illustrious career included working on over 50 Broadway shows, directing a handful himself, and working as a stage manager for the soap opera *Santa Barbara *and the 1985 Tony Awards.

Jerry Adler attends 'The Good Fight' premiere in 2017.

Roy Rochlin/Getty

"I probably would have retired when I was sixty-five as a stage manager and director," Adler told TheaterMania in a 2015 interview. "But then at sixty-five, I started acting."

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After appearing in a single episode of *Brooklyn Bridge, *Adler kept working. He popped up on shows like *True Colors, One Life to Live,* and *Northern Exposure*; he booked regular gigs on *Mad About You, Hudson Street*, and *Alright Already*. But one of his best known roles would come in 1999, when David Chase called him in to play Hesh on *The Sopranos*. A loan shark and associate of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), Hesh helped to guide the mob boss across the show's legendary six-season run.

James Gandolfini and Jerry Adler on 'The Sopranos'.

HBO/ Courtesy: Everett Collection

Adler would later play Bob Saget's father on *Raising Dad* and crude lawyer Howard Lyman on CBS' *The Good Wife*. Along with small roles in over a dozen other TV series, the actor also made his way to the big screen in films such as *The Public Eye* (1992), *Manhattan Murder Mystery *(1993), *A Most Violent Year* (2014), and *Driveways *(2019).

"You know what's interesting?" Adler asked in a 2017 interview with the *Connecticut Post*. "You spend your whole career backstage. Nobody knows who you are or even knows your name. They don't know anything about you. And then you do a television show and suddenly you're a celebrity and everyone knows your face. It's so weird."

Adler is survived by his four daughters.

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