David Friedkin

David Friedkin (March 8, 1912 – October 15, 1976) was an American actor, writer, and director whose career spanned Broadway, radio, film, and television. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Friedkin showed early academic and artistic aptitude, completing high school at age 15 and subsequently enrolling at the Juilliard School on a violin scholarship. By the time he was 17, he had shifted his ambitions toward stage acting. According to his son Anthony Friedkin, he was at one point considered for the lead role in the film adaptation of Golden Boy before eventually turning his focus to writing and directing.

Friedkin's Broadway career ran from 1934 to 1936 and included three productions: the drama Murder in the Cathedral, the play Noah, and the musical Revenge with Music. Following his stage work, he transitioned into writing and formed a long-running creative partnership with Morton Fine. Together, the two collaborated extensively across radio, television, and film. Their radio credits included Elliott Lewis's Broadway Is My Beat, Crime Classics, The Line-Up, and On Stage, as well as Bold Venture and Escape. Friedkin and Fine also wrote the audition show for Gunsmoke and originated the name "Matt Dillon" for that series. Friedkin served as president of the radio division of the Writers Guild of America West. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

In film, Friedkin directed Hot Summer Night (1957), a production completed in nine days that set a speed record at MGM, and Handle with Care (1958). He and Fine wrote the screenplay for Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker (1964), which earned them a Writers Guild of America Award. His television directing and writing credits included Sea Hunt, Dr. Kildare, The Virginian, I Spy, Bearcats, and the unsold pilot River of Gold (1971). He received six Emmy Award nominations over the course of his career, for his work on Kojak, I Spy (four nominations), and Frontier.

On March 31, 1945, Friedkin married Audrey Westphal, an actress and former dancer. They had two sons: Gregory Enton Friedkin, an actor, and Anthony Friedkin, a photographer. David Friedkin died on October 15, 1976.