Quick Facts
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Jerry Adler (born February 4, 1929) is an American theatre director, and producer, and television and film actor. He is perhaps best known for his work as Herman "Hesh" Rabkin on The Sopranos and as Howard Lyman on The Good Wife.
Early life
Adler was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Pauline and Philip Adler, who was a general manager of the Group Theatre. His great-uncle was a Yiddish theater actor Jacob Pavlovich Adler, whose children Stella and Luther Adler were his cousins. He was raised in an observant Jewish household.
Career
Adler began his theatre career as a stage manager in 1950, working on such productions as Of Thee I Sing and My Fair Lady before becoming a production supervisor for The Apple Tree, Black Comedy/White Lies, Dear World, Coco, 6 Rms Riv Vu, Annie, and I Remember Mama, among others. He made his directing debut with the 1974 Sammy Cahn revue Words and Music and also directed the 1976 revival of My Fair Lady, which garnered him a Drama Desk Award nomination, and the ill-fated 1981 musical The Little Prince and the Aviator. He also directed the 1976 play Checking Out.
He witnessed his share of flops, including Drat! The Cat! (which he thought had some nice tunes); a 1976 revival of Hellzapoppin starring Jerry Lewis ("Awful, terrible man"); and Richard Rodgers' final musical, I Remember Mama.
As an actor, Adler is perhaps best known for his roles as Herman "Hesh" Rabkin in The Sopranos, Mr. Wicker in Mad About You, Lt. Al Teischler in Hudson Street, and Howard Lyman in The Good Wife. He made three appearances on Northern Exposure as Alan Schulman, Joel Fleischman's old neighborhood rabbi seen in visions. His screen credits include In Her Shoes, Manhattan Murder Mystery, and The Public Eye. In addition, Adler also appeared in an episode of The West Wing as Toby Ziegler's father, Jules Ziegler. The elder Ziegler worked as a 1950s member of Murder, Inc. Adler appeared as the new chief in the fourth season of FX's fire fighter drama Rescue Me. He guest starred as Eddie's father Al in season 3 and season 4 of 'Til Death.
Adler played Jeffrey Tambor's father in Amazon's Transparent. He also portrayed Howard Lyman in CBS's The Good Fight, starring Christine Baranski. He also acted in Larry David's Broadway play Fish in the Dark.