Adler died on Saturday, according to a brief family announcement confirmed by the Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York.
Among Adler's acting credits are The Sopranos, on which he played Tony Soprano adviser Hesh Rabkin across all six seasons, and The Good Wife, where he played law partner Howard Lyman.
But before Adler had ever stepped in front of a film or television camera, he had 53 Broadway productions to his name - all behind the scenes, serving as a stage manager, producer or director.
He hailed from an entertainment family with deep roots in Jewish and Yiddish theatre, as he told the Jewish Ledger in 2014. His father, Philip Adler, was a general manager for the famed Group Theatre and Broadway productions, and his cousin Stella Adler was a legendary acting teacher.
After a long theatre career, which included the original production of My Fair Lady and working with the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Julie Andrews and Richard Burton, among many others, Adler left Broadway during its 1980s slump. He moved to California, where he worked on television productions like the soap opera Santa Barbara.
"I was really getting into the twilight of a mediocre career," he told The New York Times in 1992.
But the retirement he was contemplating was staved off when Donna Isaacson, casting director for The Public Eye and a longtime friend of one of Adler's daughters, had a hunch, as The New York Times reported. Adler had been on the other side of auditions, and was curious to experience how actors felt.
Director Howard Franklin, who auditioned dozens of actors for the role of a newspaper columnist in the Joe Pesci-starring film, had "chills" when Adler read for the part, the newspaper reported.
So began an acting career that had him working consistently in front of the camera for more than 30 years. An early role on the David Chase-written Northern Exposure paved the way for his time on 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."
Films included Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery, but Adler was perhaps best known for his television work. Those credits included stints on Rescue Me, Mad About You, Transparent and guest spots on shows ranging from The West Wing to Broad City.
Adler published a memoir, Too Funny for Words: Backstage Tales from Broadway, Television and the Movies, last year.
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