Jerry Adler, the man who basically proved it’s *never* too late to pop off in Hollywood, has died at 96. Yeah—NINETY. SIX. His family confirmed he passed on August 23, 2025, in New York City, where he’d been vibing since 1929.
Here’s the wild part: Jerry didn’t even START acting until he was in his 60s. Like, most people are planning retirement at that point, and this man was like, “nah, I’m gonna become a mob boss’s bestie on one of the most iconic shows ever.” Absolute legend behavior.
He kicked things off in the early ’90s with some smaller TV gigs before sliding into Woody Allen’s *Manhattan Murder Mystery* in 1993. But his true claim to fame came in 1999 when he became Herman “Hesh” Rabkin on *The Sopranos*—basically Tony Soprano’s music-biz consigliere who somehow always had the best one-liners. He stayed with the show all the way to the end in 2007.
Then he leveled up again, this time jumping into legal drama territory as Howard Lyman on *The Good Wife*. What was supposed to be a one-off cameo turned into a five-year gig because he crushed it so hard. And yes, he came back for *The Good Fight* too, because once you’re iconic, you’re *iconic*.
His last screen credit was the *Mad About You* revival in 2019, proving he literally worked until the end.
Tributes are already rolling in—actor Frank J. Reilly shared that Adler “didn’t even start acting until 65” and still managed to rack up a resume that most career actors would kill for. Absolute slay.
He’s survived by his wife Joan Laxman. Hollywood just lost one of its true late-bloomer legends.
The great actor, my friend Jerry Adler died today at the age of 96. You know him from one of his iconic roles had from many of his guest appearances. Not bad for a guy who didn’t start acting until he was 65. Check out his IMDb page. https://t.co/BeOLeEliOb pic.twitter.com/fnbB8soWy4
— Frank J. Reilly 🌻 (@FrankJReilly1) August 23, 2025
Jerry Adler died yesterday. 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 bitch” we had him back for six years of Good Wife and three years of Good Fight. One of our favorite… pic.twitter.com/D9rLPdIYA4
— Robert King (@RKing618) August 24, 2025