Donald Freed

Donald Freed (born May 13, 1932) is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, historian, teacher and activist. According to Freed's friend and colleague, the late Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, "(Freed) is a writer of blazing imagination, courage and insight. His work is a unique and fearless marriage of politics and art. I take my hat off to him." [1]

Donald Freed
Born1932
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Illinois Goodman School of Theater, California State University at Northridge and University of California, Los Angeles
Known forPlaywright, Novelist, Screenwriter, Historian, Teacher and Activist
Notable work
Death in Washington: The Murder of Orlando Letalier; Circe & Bravo; Agnoy in New Haven; Inquest
AwardsBerlin Critics Award; NEA Award for "Distinguished Writing"; PEN Award
For the Canadian singer, see Don Freed.

Early life

Freed was born May 13, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, the only son of Jeanne Greene and David J. Freed, an attorney; the couple later divorced. Freed maintained a relationship with his biological father throughout his life. His mother remarried Arthur Malsin, a merchant by trade. At age 4, Freed moved with his mother and stepfather to Eagle River, Wisconsin. Three years later, Freed’s mother and stepfather moved again, to Alexandria, Louisiana,[1][2] The family expanded; Freed is the eldest of his four half-siblings Lynnel Hope, Anne, Paulette, and Byron. From 1939-1949, he was educated at West End Grammar School, Bolton High School, St. John’s Military Academy in Delafield, WI, and Louisiana College.[2]

Malsin, Freed's stepfather, was "a successful merchant selling clothing for a time, then military gear, and later soft drinks. After World War II, when the wartime boom deflated and prices soared, his stepfather’s business collapsed and he committed suicide".[1] " 'We’ve all known a Willy Loman in our life,' Freed said, referring to Arthur Miller's classic play, 'Death of a Salesman,' [emended] in which the protagonist Willy Loman commits suicide hoping that in death he may provide for his family. Freed's mother, who sold insurance 'in the back roads of Louisiana,' supported the family until she died of cancer at 42".[1]

Freed’s higher education began in 1949 at the University of Illinois; in 1950 continued at the Goodman school of theater in Chicago. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he attended California State University at Northridge and University of California Los Angeles. Special Studies included Aesthetics with Professor Leon Katz, and Psychoanalytic Studies in Literature with Lawrence J. Friedman, M.D. and Milton Lester, M.D.

Career

Theater

Freed’s professional career began in 1958 as artistic director of the Valley Playhouse in Tarzana, California, where he acted and directed.[2] He took leading roles in The Country Girl, The Lady’s Not for Burning, The Lower Depths, Voice of the Turtle, Taming of the Shrew, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He directed Joe Stern in Detective Story, Harry Towne in Separate Tables, and Guy Stockwell in Billy Budd. In 1960, Freed became artistic director of the Los Angeles Art Theatre (LAAT), based in the Coronet Theatre. There he directed Summer and Smoke (with Joan Tomkins), The Seagull (with Guy Stockwell and Barboura Morris), Hamlet (Stockwell, Morris, and John Larkin), Crime and Punishment (Stockwell).

In 1965, he directed Hamlet and Crime and Punishment in repertory at the Lindy Opera House in Los Angeles.

In 1969, Freed’s play Inquest established him as a playwright, with productions occurring in New York, Hungary, Japan, Cleveland, and Los Angeles.[2]

Residencies

Freed has been in residence at Los Angeles Art Theatre/Coronet Theatre (1960-1963); Yale University Press (1972); University of Southern California (1982-2007); Los Angeles Theatre Center (1983-1989); the Jonathan Reynolds Chair at Denison University (2004); Mercury Theatre, United Kingdom (2005); University of Leeds, United Kingdom (2006); York Theatre Royal, United Kingdom (2007);[3] The Old Vic, United Kingdom (2007).[4]

Investigative journalism

Freed was an active investigative journalist publishing articles and books mostly related to politics and civil rights movements. Freed was affiliated with the Citizens Research and Investigation Committee (C.R.I.C.), a Los Angeles based group of investigative journalists active in the 1960s and 1970s.[5]

FBI disinformation campaign

Freed was a member of the Friends of the Panthers, a group of white supporters of the Black Panther movement. Freed was a close friend of Huey Percy Newton, a political activist and founding member of the Black Panther Party. Freed acted as one of the unofficial historians of the Black Panther Party, and served as one of the advisors to Newton's doctoral thesis (The War Against the Panthers) for the University of California.[6]

In 1969 the FBI, in an effort to drive distrust between Freed and the Black Panther Party, began a disinformation campaign against him and added him to Nixon's enemies list.[7] The campaign began with an FBI case agent, Phil Denny, ensuring that Freed lost his teaching contract at the San Fernando Valley State College and that the California State College in Fullerton, CA would not hire him. [8]. In July of 1969, Hoover approved the distribution of fake leaflets stating Freed “is a PIG” and a law enforcement informant. [9] The campaign against Freed was unsuccessful. [10]

In 1973, Freed’s book Agony in New Haven explored the implications of racial bias in jury selection in the 1970s trial of Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins, leaders of the Black Panther Party.

Death in Washington

In their 1980 book Death in Washington, Freed and Fred Landis, a political science teacher at Cal State Los Angeles, charged that the Central Intelligence Agency was involved in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier.[11] The authors specifically named David Atlee Phillips as being involved in a cover-up of the assassination and reiterated Gaeton Fonzi's claim that Phillips served as Lee Harvey Oswald's case officer while using the alias "Maurice Bisop".[12] In 1982, Freed, Landis, and their publisher were named in a $230 million libel suit by Phillips and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.[11][12] A settlement was reached in 1986 with Phillips receiving a retraction and an unspecified amount of money.[12]

O.J. Simpson

In 1996, Freed and Raymond P. Briggs, a professor at the American Heritage University, wrote Killing Time: The First Full Investigation into the Unsolved Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The book focused on the timeline of the events of the crime as well as the forensic evidence used in the investigation. The book had mixed reviews and controversy began once the book was published.[13][14] In an interview on Larry King Live, Ron Goldman’s father called into the show and berated Freed about the book.[15]

Work for the People's Temple and Jonestown Tragedy

Freed visited Jonestown before the mass suicide of over 900 members of the People's Temple. Freed's visit followed Jim Jones' contacting Freed and Mark Lane to uncover alleged plots by intelligence agencies against the Temple.

In the summer of 1978, the Peoples Temple hired Lane and Freed to help make the case of what it alleged to be a "grand conspiracy" by intelligence agencies against the Peoples Temple.[16] Temple member Edith Roller wrote in her journal that Freed said a Temple defector pressing for a U.S. investigation of Jonestown "was a CIA agent before coming to the Temple."[17]

In August 1978, Freed visited Jonestown and encouraged Lane to visit.[18] Lane held press conferences with the results of his and Freed's visits to Jonestown, stating that "none of the charges" against the Temple "are accurate or true", and there was a "massive conspiracy" against the Temple by "intelligence organizations," naming the CIA, FCC, and even the U.S. Post Office.[16]

Temple member Annie Moore wrote: "Mom and Dad have probably shown you the latest about the conspiracy information that Mark Lane, the famous attorney in the ML King case and Don Freed the other famous author in the Kennedy case have come up with regarding activities planned against us—Peoples Temple."[19] Another Temple member, Carolyn Layton, wrote that Freed told them that "anything this dragged out could be nothing less than conspiracy."[20]

A month later, on November 18, 1978, over 900 Temple members committed mass suicide in Jonestown, while Congressman Leo Ryan, NBC reporter Don Harris and others were murdered at a nearby airstrip. Jones created fear among members by stating that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were conspiring with "capitalist pigs" to destroy Jonestown and harm its members.[21][22][23]

Selected writings
Plays
  • 1951–2006 published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
  • Alfred and Victoria: A Life (1988)
  • Circe and Bravo (1984)(Perf. Faye Dunaway; dir. Harold Pinter)
  • The Death Of Ivan Ilych (2004) published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
  • The Devil's Advocate (2005) (about U.S. invasion of Panama and President Manuel Noriega) published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
  • Hamlet (In Rehearsal) (2008) published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
  • How Shall We Be Saved? (2002) published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
  • Inquest (1970) (dir. Alan Schneider), about the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
  • Is He Still Dead? (1990) (Perf. Julie Harris (Nora Joyce)
  • Patient No. 1 (2006) published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
  • Sokrates Must Die (2010) (Perf. Edward Asner)
  • Quartered Man (1988) published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
  • Tomorrow (2013) published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
  • Veterans Day (1989) (Perf. Jack Lemmon and Michael Gambon)
  • The White Crow (1989) published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Non-fiction prose
  • The Killing of RFK. New York: Dell, 1975
  • Agony in New Haven: The Trial of Bobby Seale, Ericka Huggins, and the Black Panther Party. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973. Rpt. Figueroa Press, forthcoming January 2008.
  • The Existentialism of Alberto Moravia (Co-author with Joan Ross). Carbonale: Southern Illinois UP, 1972. ISBN 0-8093-0549-6.
  • In Search of Common Ground (Co-author with Erik Erikson, Kai Erikson, Huey P. Newton)
  • Death in Washington: The Murder of Orlando Letelier. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1980. ISBN 0-88208-124-1 (10). ISBN 978-0-88208-124-3 (13).
  • Killing Time: The First Full Investigation into the Unsolved Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman (Co-author with Raymond P. Briggs). New York: Macmillan General Reference, 1996. ISBN 0-02-861340-6 (10). ISBN 978-0-02-861340-6 (13).
Prose fiction
  • The China Card (Arbor House, 1980)
  • The Spymaster (Arbor House, 1980)
  • Every Third House (Penmarin Books, 2005)
Films

Honors and awards
  • Berlin Critics Award
  • Rockefeller Awards (3)
  • Louis B. Mayer Awards (2)
  • Unicorn Prize
  • NEA Award for "Distinguished Writing"
  • Los Angeles Critics' Awards (5)
  • John Larkin Award
  • Edinburgh Festival Prize
  • Washington D.C. Fringe Prize
  • Pen Award
  • Avignon Festival 2019: Coups de Coeur for Le Cornbeau Blanc [The White Crow (Eichmann in Jerusalem)]
  • American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California Award of Appreciation

Personal life

In 1952, at 20, Freed married Patricia McGowan and the couple moved to Los Angeles, California three years later. They divorced in 1960. In 1965, Freed married actress Barboura Morris. In 1975, the couple adopted Hugh Morris Freed, but Barboura died later that year. In 1980, he married Patricia Rae Ezor, and after 40 years they remain together.[2][1]

Freed and his wife Patricia Rae Freed, a former teacher who represents him, live in Los Angeles.[1][2][24] After his visiting appointment in Leeds and York, they returned to USC, where he has taught in the United States' first multidisciplinary master's program in creative writing for 22 years".[25]

References
  1. Johnson, Pamela J."College News: Playing the Devil's Advocate: Playwright Donald Freed Wins PEN USA 2006 Award for Play Set in Panama during 'Operation Just Cause.' " University of Southern California (USC), December 2006. Accessed October 10, 2007.
  2. Mikulan, Steven (May 30, 2001). "Countermythologist". LA Weekly.
  3. Hutchinson, Charles (17 August 2007). "Writer in Residence at York Theatre Royal". The Press. York, England.
  4. BBW News Desk (April 26, 2013). "TOMORROW Extends Through May 5 at Skylight Theatre Complex". Broadway World.
  5. Simkin, James. “Donald Freed.” Spartacus Educational (September 1997). Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  6. Newton, Huey P. (1 June 1980). War Against The Panthers: A Study Of Repression In America (PDF) (PhD). University of California Santa Cruz. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  7. Stayton, Richard (2003). "Introduction". Plays By Donald Freed. Broadway Play Publishing. ISBN 0881452211.
  8. Swearingen, M. Westley (1995). FBI Secrets: An Agent Expose. South End Press p. 116. ISBN 0896085015, 9780896085015 at Google Books.
  9. Stayton, Richard. Introduction. Plays By Donald Freed, by Freed, Donald New York: Broadway Play Publishing, 2003 pg i to xiv. ISBN 0881452211
  10. Swearingen, M. Westley (1995). FBI Secrets: An Agent Expose. South End Press p. 116. ISBN 0896085015, 9780896085015 at Google Books
  11. UPI (March 5, 1982). "CIA critic arrested after Cuba visit". UPI.com. UPI. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  12. Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 1201. ISBN 0-393-04525-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  13. Emory, Dave. “For The Record #14 - Interview with Donald Freed.” Internet Archive (1996). Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  14. Emory, Dave. (October 14, 1996). “FTR #15 Interview with Donald Freed, Stephan Singular and Stephen Worth.” Spitfire List. (October, 13, 1996). Retrieved March 15, 2020
  15. Hoffer, Marilyn; Hoffer, William (2014). His Name is Ron: Our Search for Justice. BenBella Books. ISBN 1940363675.
  16. Tim Reiterman (1982) "Raven: The Untold Story of The Rev. Jim Jones and His People" ISBN 0-525-24136-1 page 440
  17. Roller, Edith Edith Roller Journals, August 1978, archived at Jonestown Institute at San Diego State University
  18. Moore, Rebecca (2000). "American as Cherry Pie". Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases. Syracuse University Press. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  19. Moore, Rebecca. A Sympathetic History of Jonestown. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press. ISBN 0-88946-860-5. p. 282.
  20. Moore, Rebecca. A Sympathetic History of Jonestown. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press. ISBN 0-88946-860-5. p. 272.
  21. See, e.g., Jim Jones, Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 234, Q 322, Q 051
  22. Jim Jones, Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 050
  23. "Jonestown Audiotape Primary Project." Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple. San Diego State University.
  24. Freed, Donald. "Another America".
  25. "Author Biography for Agony in New Haven". Figueroa Press. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011.
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