jerry Adler, the multifaceted entertainer who transitioned from a long and accomplished career behind the scenes on Broadway to a celebrated acting career in his 60s, has died at the age of 96.

Adler’s death was confirmed on Saturday by the Riverside memorial Chapel in New York, according to a family statement.

“Adler passed peacefully in his sleep,” said Sarah Shulman of Paradigm Talent Agency, representing the family. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

Adler’s extensive acting resume includes his memorable role as Hesh Rabkin, advisor to Tony soprano, in all six seasons of The Sopranos, as well as his portrayal of law partner Howard Lyman in The Good Wife.

Before his on-screen success, adler spent over five decades working behind the scenes in the theater, contributing to 53 Broadway productions as a stage manager, producer, and director.

“I’m immortal.”

Born into a family deeply involved in jewish and Yiddish theater, as he recounted to the Jewish Ledger in 2014, Adler’s path to the stage was almost preordained.

His father, Philip Adler, served as a general manager for the renowned Group Theatre and various Broadway productions, while his cousin Stella Adler achieved fame as an influential acting teacher.

“I’m a creature of nepotism,” Adler admitted to TheaterMania in 2015. “I got my frist 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 distinguished theater career, which included involvement in the original production of My Fair Lady and collaborations wiht luminaries such as Marlene Dietrich, Julie Andrews, and Richard Burton, Adler departed Broadway during its decline in the 1980s.

He relocated to California and worked on television productions, including the soap opera Santa Barbara.

“I was really getting into the twilight of a mediocre career,” he confessed to The New York Times in 1992.

However, his potential retirement was averted when Donna Isaacson, the casting director for The Public Eye and a longtime friend of one of Adler’s daughters, had a feeling about how to fill a challenging role, as reported by The New York Times.

Having previously been on the other side of auditions, Adler, driven by curiosity about the actor’s experience, decided to audition himself.

Director Howard Franklin, after auditioning numerous actors for the part of a newspaper columnist in the Joe Pesci film, experienced “chills” during adler’s audition, according to the newspaper.

This marked the beginning of an acting career that spanned over 30 years. An early role in David Chase’s Northern Exposure paved the way for his involvement in a future Chase project, The Sopranos.

“When David was going to do the pilot for ‘The Sopranos’ he called and asked me if I would do a cameo of Hesh. It was just supposed to be a one-shot,” he told Forward in 2015. “But when they picked up the show they liked the character, and I would come on every fourth week.”

His film credits include Woody Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery, but Adler gained greater recognition for his television work, with appearances in Rescue Me, Mad About You, Transparent, and guest roles in shows ranging from The West Wing to Broad City.

He also returned to Broadway, this time as a performer, in Elaine may’s Taller Than a Dwarf in 2000. In 2015, he participated in Larry David’s writing and acting stage debut, Fish in the Dark.

“I do it because I really enjoy it. I think retirement is a road to nowhere,” Adler told Forward,regarding 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 released his 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 at the time, when asked about future acting roles. In recent years, he and his wife, Joan laxman, moved from Connecticut back to his hometown of New York.He is survived by his four daughters, according to Shulman.

Adler, who once considered himself “too goofy-looking” to be an actor, found it initially strange to see himself on screen.

in various interviews, he expressed his surprise at being recognized by the public after spending so many years working behind the scenes.

Though, as he told The New York Times in 1992, there was one clear benefit to being preserved on film: “I’m immortal,” he said.