'The Sopranos' star Jerry Adler passes away at age 96

Actor Jerry Adler died on Saturday in New York. He was 96.

His death was confirmed by his family, who revealed that the Sopranos actor "passed peacefully in his sleep." No immediate cause was given.

Adler starred as Tony Soprano's adviser Hesh Rabkin across all six seasons of The Sopranos and played law partner Howard Lyman in The Good Wife.

Born in Brooklyn in 1929, Adler began his career behind the scenes on Broadway, working as a stage manager, producer, and director. Over the years, he contributed to 53 Broadway productions, including My Fair Lady and Coco, before shifting his focus to on-screen acting.

"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," he revealed in his lifetime.

Adler left Broadway during its 1980s slump. He then moved to California, where he worked on television productions like the soap opera Santa Barbara.

By his own admission, "I was really getting into the twilight of a mediocre career," he told The New York Times in 1992. He later switched to working consistently in front of the camera for over 30 years.