Broadway actor lent voice to films

Bruce Adler, 63, an actor who received Tony nominations for his Broadway performances and lent his voice to some Disney films, died Friday in a South Florida hospice after battling cancer, his booking agent Moishe Rosenfeld said.

Adler starred for four years on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning Gershwin musical “Crazy for You.” His performance earned him nominations for the 1992 Tony and Drama Desk Award as best featured actor in a musical. He was previously nominated for those awards for his 1991 performance in “Those Were the Days.”

Adler’s voice was featured in the 1992 Disney animated film “Aladdin,” in which he sang the opening song, “Arabian Nights.” He also had lines in “Beauty and the Beast” in 1991.

Adler was born Nov. 27, 1944, in New York City. His parents, actors Julius Adler and Henrietta Jacobson, were members of the renowned branches of the Yiddish theater that flowered on the Lower East Side.

In recent years Adler had been performing vaudeville-style song and dance revues featuring Yiddish folk songs.