Zvee Scooler

Zvee Scooler (December 1, 1899 – March 25, 1985) was a Russian-born American actor and radio commentator. He was born in Kamenets-Podolsky (now Ukraine) 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 (he was the only actor to appear in every performance of the musical's entire seven-year-run) 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. He was known as the Grammeister (Master of the Rhyme) on WEVD, a Yiddish radio station in New York City. Every Sunday, from the 1930s until his death, Scooler presented a ten-minute segment on the radio show, Forward Hour, which was news and commentary in rhyme. He died in New York City on March 25, 1985, at age 85, and was buried at Cedar Park Cemetery, in Paramus, New Jersey.