Early Life and Education
Jerry Adler was born on February 4, 1929, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City to Pauline and Philip, members of the famed theatrical Adler family. His father was a theater manager, and among his cousins was the renowned actress and acting teacher Stella Adler. He was raised in a Yiddish-speaking Jewish household. As an adolescent, Adler attended Samuel J. Tilden High School.
Career Beginnings in Theater
Adler began his career in the theater, managing productions like his father did. In the 1950s, he worked on such shows as “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “Of Thee I Sing,” and “My Fair Lady.” Over the next two decades, Adler served as a production supervisor for “The Apple Tree,” “Dear World,” “Coco,” and “Annie,” among many other shows. In 1974, he made his debut as a director with the Sammy Cahn revue “Words and Music,” and two years later, he directed the first Broadway revival of “My Fair Lady.” Adler also directed the short-lived Broadway play “Checking Out” in 1976 and later the ill-fated musical “The Little Prince and the Aviator” in 1981.
Television Career
After appearing in episodes of “Brooklyn Bridge,” “True Colors,” and “Quantum Leap,” Adler had his first major television role on the sitcom “Mad About You,” playing apartment-building superintendent Mr. Wicker between 1993 and 1999. Adler appeared on many other television programs during that time. In 1993, he was in the CBS television film “The Odd Couple Together Again,” and from 1994 to 1995, he played Rabbi Alan Schulman in three episodes of “Northern Exposure” on the same network. Adler had his first main role on television on the ABC sitcom “Hudson Street,” which ran from 1995 to 1996. He had another main role, on the WB sitcom “Alright Already,” from 1997 to 1998. Adler began perhaps his most well-known role at the end of the decade, on the HBO series “The Sopranos.” He played the recurring role of Hesh Rabkin, a loan shark and advisor to James Gandolfini’s mobster Tony Soprano. Adler appeared in all six seasons of the show through 2007.
Film Career
Adler made his big-screen debut in 1992, playing journalist Arthur Nabler in the crime thriller “The Public Eye.” The next year, he appeared in Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery.” Adler’s subsequent credits included “For Better or Worse,” “Getting Away with Murder,” and “Larger Than Life.” In 1997, he played a mob boss in the crime drama “Six Ways to Sunday,” and in 1999, he played the father of Ben Shenkman’s main character in the romcom “30 Days.” After some time away from the big screen, Adler returned in 2005 with roles in two romantic dramedies: “In Her Shoes” and “Prime.” He next appeared in Sidney Lumet’s 2006 film “Find Me Guilty.” Following that, Adler was in the 2007 drama “The Memory Thief.” In 2008, he played the father of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s main character in Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York.” Adler’s credits in the 2010s include the dramedy “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn,” J. C. Chandor’s crime drama “A Most Violent Year,” and Andrew Ahn’s drama “Driveways.”
Personal Life & Death
In 1994, Adler married psychologist Joan Laxman. The pair resided in Roxbury, Connecticut, before moving into a two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 2017. Jerry Adler died on August 23, 2025, at the age of 96.
