Jerry Stiller as Hesh Rabkin on The Sopranos

[Yong Fang]

I am a fan of the mafia themed show on HBO, “The Sopranos”.

Supposedly Jerry Stiller was the first choice to play the Jewish gangster and friend of Tony and the gang, Hesh Rabkin. For whatever reason, and maybe Stiller turning the part down, the part went to Jerry Adler, who I knew from a great Woody Allen movie called Manhattan Murder Mystery.

My question, would Stiller have been a good choice? I think a lot of younger people and not so young people would associate Stiller with funny or humorous roles. I am sure he has, but Stiller has never played to my knowledge any dramatic or villain roles. Actually to me, Hesh played by Adler wasn’t as menacing or horrible as the other characters, but he could be, but I don’t know if Stiller could have pulled that off. Adler did a much better job.

Probably Stiller kicked himself in the butt for not taking the role or unable to take the role. But I think people would have seen him as too comical to do it.

So for Sopranos fans, Adler or Stiller?