Bruce Adler

Bruce Adler (November 27, 1944 – July 25, 2008) was an American actor born in New York City whose career spanned Broadway, Yiddish theatre, film, and television. His parents, Henrietta Jacobson and Julius Adler, were established stars of the Yiddish theatre scene centered on New York's Lower East Side, as were his two maternal uncles, Irving and Hymie Jacobson. Adler made his stage debut at a young age performing alongside his parents, and the three Adlers appeared together at the London Palladium with Sophie Tucker during the 1950s. Throughout his teens he continued working in Yiddish theatre while also participating in mainstream American productions, including performances in Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn as his parents made a similar transition into American theatre.

Adler served in the United States Army from 1966 through 1968, after which he resumed his career across both Yiddish and American theatrical worlds. Following success in regional theatre, he made his Broadway debut in 1979 in the 35th anniversary revival of Oklahoma!, playing Ali Hakim, the Peddler — a role originated in 1943 by actor Joseph Buloff, who similarly had deep roots in the Yiddish stage. His Broadway career continued through the following decade and a half with credits including Oh, Brother! (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984 and 1994), Broadway (1987), Rumors (1988), Those Were the Days (1991), Crazy for You (1992), and Broadway Boy. He remained with Crazy for You for the entirety of its four-year Broadway run.

Those Were the Days brought Adler significant recognition: he received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical in 1991 and earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the same production. A second Tony nomination in the same category followed for Crazy for You in 1992. Off-Broadway, Adler appeared in a number of Yiddish-language and Jewish-themed productions, among them The Golden Land (1985), On Second Avenue (1987), and The Rise of David Levinsky (1987). He also performed frequently in summer productions at The Muny Theater in St. Louis.

Adler's work extended into film and television. He provided the singing voice for the peddler character in Disney's 1992 animated feature Aladdin and reprised that contribution in the 1996 sequel Aladdin and the King of Thieves. He also had a voice role in Beauty and the Beast and appeared in television productions including Law & Order. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Adler developed a series of one-man shows that performed in legitimate theatres across South Florida, from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale to Miami, paying tribute to performers including Danny Kaye, Sammy Davis Jr., Red Buttons, Cab Calloway, and Jimmy Durante.

Adler's first marriage ended in divorce in 2002. He married director and actress Amy London in 2003, and in February 2007 the couple had a son, Jacob Hayden Adler. His final public appearance took place in May 2008 at Carnegie Hall, where he performed in a gala celebration for the New York Festival of Song. Bruce Adler died of liver cancer on July 25, 2008, at the age of 63.