Zvee Scooler

Zvee Scooler was a Russian-born American actor and radio commentator. He was born in Kamenets-Podolsky and his original surname was Shkolyar. He came to the United States in 1912. He performed in both Yiddish and English, on the stage, television, and film. He first joined Maurice Schwartz's Yiddish Art Theater in 1921 -- his debut was in the first American performance of S. Ansky's classic play The Dybbuk -- and remained with the company for 25 years. He is probably best known for his roles in Fiddler on the Roof, playing Mordcha, the innkeeper in the Broadway musical and the rabbi in the film version. He appeared as Duddy's grandfather in the 1974 film "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz." Another of his more notable roles was that of Boris' father in Woody Allen's Love and Death.