Leonard Frey; Played Motel the Tailor in ‘Fiddler’

Leonard Frey, who played the role of Motel the tailor in the 1971 movie “Fiddler on the Roof” after being featured in the Broadway production, has died of AIDS. He was 49.

Frey, who died Wednesday at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City, received an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor for his performance as Motel. The animated, flamboyant Brooklyn native was also nominated in 1975 for a Tony award as best supporting actor for his performance as Barnet in the New York stage play “The National Health.”

Frey studied art from the time he was 8 years old and was planning a career as a painter when he decided to change goals and switched from New York’s Cooper Union to the Neighborhood Playhouse.

He made his New York professional debut as Yellow Feather in the off-Broadway musical “Little Mary Sunshine” and won a Vernon Rice Award for his subsequent performance in “The Coach With Six Insides,” Jean Erdman’s adaptation of “Finnegan’s Wake.”

His theatrical breakthrough came with his performance as Harold in Mart Crowley’s “Boys in the Band.” He later re-created the role for the 1970 film.

The comedic character actor also played leading roles in “The Time of Your Life,” “Twelfth Night” and Athol Fugard’s “People Are Living Here” at the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center.

His last appearance was in an episode of the television series “Murder, She Wrote.”

He is survived by a brother.