Jerry Adler

Acting

Jerry Adler

Born 1929-02-04 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Jerry Adler (February 4, 1929 – August 23, 2025) was an American theatre director, production supervisor and a television and film actor. Adler was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Pauline and Philip Adler, who was a general manager of the Group Theatre. He was raised in a Jewish observant household. Adler began his theatre career as a stage manager in 1951, 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. As an actor, Adler is perhaps best known for his roles as Herman "Hesh" Rabkin in The Sopranos, Mr. Wicker in Mad About You, and Lt. Al Teischler in Hudson Street. 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 member of Murder, Inc. in the 50's. 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jerry Adler, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​

Acting credits

A Most Violent Year poster
6.6

A thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city's history, and centered on the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built.

A Most Violent Year

2014

Synecdoche, New York poster
7.5

A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

Synecdoche, New York

2008

In Her Shoes poster
6.2

Irresponsible party girl Maggie is kicked out of her father's and stepmother's home—where she lives for free—and is taken in by her hard-working sister, Philadelphia lawyer Rose. After Maggie's disruptive ways ruin her sister's love life, Rose turns her out as well. But when their grandmother, who they never knew existed, comes into their lives, the sisters face some complicated truths about themselves and their family.

In Her Shoes

2005

Prime poster
6.0

A career driven professional from Manhattan is wooed by a young painter, who also happens to be the son of her psychoanalyst.

Prime

2005

Find Me Guilty poster
6.5

Based on the true story of Jack DiNorscio, a mobster who defended himself in court for what would be the longest mafia trial in U.S. history.

Find Me Guilty

2006

Manhattan Murder Mystery poster
7.3

A middle-aged couple suspects foul play when their neighbor's wife suddenly drops dead.

Manhattan Murder Mystery

1993

The Angriest Man in Brooklyn poster
5.6

After learning that a brain aneurysm will kill him in about 90 minutes, a perpetually unhappy man struggles to come to terms with his fate and make amends with everyone he has ever hurt.

The Angriest Man in Brooklyn

2014

The Public Eye poster
6.2

A crime photographer gets involved in a conspiracy.

The Public Eye

1992

Larger Than Life poster
5.5

Motivational Speaker Jack Corcoran is determined to get his career off the ground, but the biggest gigs he can get are the ones nobody wants. One day, he receives a telegram that his circus clown father has passed away and left a "huge" inheritance: an elephant that was his father's pride and joy. His main intention to sell the pachyderm off, Jack must choose between loud and rude zookeeper Mo or attractive animal show owner Terry. As the two trek through the country Jack and the elephant develop a bond, and it changes his approach to life for the better.

Larger Than Life

1996

Remember Sunday poster
7.1

A lonely, down-on-her-luck waitress meets a handsome, quirky jewelry store clerk and thinks that maybe, finally, she's met Mr. Right. The more Molly gets to know Gus, the more she's intrigued by him. But she's also mystified. Gus is absent-minded, preoccupied. Is he hiding something? The short answer is: yes. He's reluctant to share with her that since suffering a brain aneurysm, he's totally lost his short-term memory. Every day is a brand new day, his life starts anew. Every day he sees Molly he struggles to remember who she is and what she represents. Every day, he has to fall in love with her all over again.

Remember Sunday

2013

Driveways poster
7.0

Eight-year-old Cody is spending the summer in an unfamiliar setting with his mom Kathy. Though he can't relate to the neighbourhood kids, things take an unexpected turn when he develops an unusual friendship with the widowed old man from next door.

Driveways

2020

Getting Away with Murder poster
4.8

When the very moralistic college ethics instructor Jack Lambert finds himself living next door to an accused German death camp commander, he takes it upon himself to rid the world of this man.

Getting Away with Murder

1996

Exclusive poster
5.3

The famous TV journalist Marcy Singer receives an anonymous phone call that orders her to the Blue Moon bar. When she arrives, she finds 6 corpses. Urged by her new boss, she investigates the case, and soon learns about evidence against her own husband Reed.

Exclusive

1992

Goodbye Baby poster
5.8

An ambitious young woman who can't afford to pay for college throws caution to the wind by moving to New York City and attempting to break into the toughest stand-up comedy circuit in the country.

Goodbye Baby

2007

Transparent: Musicale Finale poster
6.7

When the Pfeffermans face a life-changing loss, they begin a journey hilarious and melancholy, brazen and bold. As they face this new transition, they confront grief and come together to celebrate connection, joy, and transformation.

Transparent: Musicale Finale

2019

Six Ways to Sunday poster
6.1

Harry Odum is a henpecked 18-year-old momma's boy with a violent temper in Youngstown, Ohio. After impressing a local boss of the Jewish Mafia, he begins working as a hit man alongside crack addict Arnie Finklestein.

Six Ways to Sunday

1999

Fair Market Value poster
5.2

Kendall, a real estate agent from Miami, moves to the suburbs of New York to work at the prestigious Atlantic Shores Realtors and immediately butts heads with Brooke, a rival real estate agent. Tensions soon mount when Kendall and Brooke are forced to work together to try and sell one of the most expensive mansions on Long Island, all while navigating their complex and messy relationships.

Fair Market Value

2019

For Better or Worse poster
4.7

A comic love triangle wherein a loser falls in love with his recently-married brother's wife.

For Better or Worse

1995

The Real Sopranos poster
1.0

This movie shows the connections between the TV series 'The Sopranos' and a real-life New Jersey Mob. The story of the rise and fall of New Jersey’s DeCavalcante crime family

The Real Sopranos

2006

Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis poster
NR

Told in flashbacks as Jackie reflects on her life, mini is divided in two parts: Life as a Kennedy and life after Camelot.

Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis

2000

The Memory Thief poster
4.4

A Los Angeles tollbooth clerk becomes obsessed with the Holocaust after meeting a survivor.

The Memory Thief

2007

The Odd Couple: Together Again poster
9.5

Felix's daughter Edna is getting married, and his wife Gloria throws him out of the house for a few days, so that she can plan the wedding herself, without him getting in the way. Felix temporarily moves in with Oscar, who is still living in the same apartment from the TV show. Due to throat cancer, Oscar had to have one of his vocal cords removed, and he can only speak in a raspy whisper. Meanwhile, plans for the wedding are going on, and things get complicated when Felix finds out that Edna's fiancé has been divorced twice.

The Odd Couple: Together Again

1993

Mixed Signals poster
10.0

Two women discover they have the same rock star boyfriend and both think they are the one he is sharing his New York apartment with. When Vinnie returns from a vacation to celebrate his birthday with the girlfriend he expects to find at home, he discovers both women together and that he can't have his cake and eat it too.

Mixed Signals

2001

30 Days poster
5.5

Jordan meets Sarah on a blind date. His family announces they're moving, and his best friend is getting a quickie wedding. Jordan panics and breaks up with Sarah by asking her to marry him.

30 Days

1999

Behind the camera