Jerry Adler, Veteran Stagehand Turned Late-Blooming Actor, Dies at 96

Jerry Adler, a veteran stagehand who turned to acting in his 60s, has passed away at the age of 96.

Adler spent decades working behind the scenes on Broadway productions before making the transition to acting. He had 53 Broadway credits to his name, including serving as a stage manager, producer, or director.

"I'm a creature of nepotism," Adler said in an interview with TheaterMania in 2015. "I got my first job when I was at Syracuse University and my father, the general manager of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, called me (because) there was an opening for an assistant stage manager. I skipped school."

After a long theater career, Adler left Broadway during its 1980s slump and moved to California, where he worked on television productions like the soap opera "Santa Barbara."

But it wasn't until Donna Isaacson, the casting director for "The Public Eye," had a hunch about how to cast a hard-to-fill role that Adler began his acting career. He agreed to try out, and director Howard Franklin was impressed with his reading of the part.

"When David was going to do the pilot for 'The Sopranos' he called and asked me if I would do a cameo of Hesh," Adler said in an interview with Forward in 2015. "It was just supposed to be a one-shot, but when they picked up the show they liked the character, and I would come on every fourth week."

Adler went on to appear in films like Woody Allen's "Manhattan Murder Mystery" and television shows such as "Rescue Me," "Mad About You," and "Transparent." He even returned to Broadway, this time onstage, in Elaine May's "Taller Than a Dwarf" in 2000.

"I do it because I really enjoy it. I think retirement is a road to nowhere," Adler said in an interview with Forward about the play. "I wouldn’t know what to do if I were retired. I guess if nobody calls anymore, that’s when I’ll be retired. Meanwhile this is great."

Adler published a memoir, "Too Funny for Words: Backstage Tales from Broadway, Television and the Movies," last year. "I’m ready to go at a moment’s notice," he told CT Insider then, when asked if he'd take more acting roles.

"I'm immortal," Adler said in an interview with The New York Times back in 1992. "For me, it was always about the work."