My Life in the Movies

My Life in the Movies showcases the best of Friedman's Hollywood-era camera work. It is also a trip back in time, with the photographer sharing his memories of what it was like to be in close quarters with some of Hollywood's greatest; making films - and imagery - that will last forever. After an apprenticeship as an assistant cameraman, Friedman went on to become one of the most in-demand still photographers in Hollywood from the late 1960s until the late 1980s. While shooting on location for dozens of Hollywood's classic films of that era, he befriended stars such as Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Travolta, Michael Caine, James Caan, Goldie Hawn, Cissy Spacek, Omar Sharif, Olivia Newton-John, Jack Nicholson, Richard Dreyfuss and Jacqueline Bissett.

 
Wanting to spread his wings, Friedman was given an opportunity to work in the motion picture industry in July 1965.  That’s when he was given his first assignment as an assistant cameraman at 20th Century Fox.  The choice was not a difficult one for Friedman, whose father had been in the industry since 1919 and his mother a silent film actress.
 
His goal at the time was to become a still photographer, but at the time, unions had very strict grouping policies and it was virtually impossible to get work in that classification and it took about five years to reach the top grouping.
 
During his brief career as an assistant cameraman, Friedman worked on some of the biggest classics in film history.  They included The Sound of Music, Doctor Doolittle, The Sand Pebbles, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Wild Bunch, Hello Dolly and Tora! Tora! Tora!
 
When Friedman finally achieved still photographer status in June 1969, his first assignment was Little Fauss and Big Halsey, a motorcycle racing film starring Robert Redford and Lauren Hutton.  Over the next two decades, his film resume swelled and he shot some of celluloid’s biggest stars, including Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, Robert Redford, Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Michael Caine, Diane Keaton, Donald Sutherland, Jodie Foster, Eva Marie Saint, Charles Bronson, Christopher Reeves, John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, George Burns, Gene Tierney, Tony Curtis, Jon Voight, Richard Dreyfuss, Sissy Spacek,  Sylvester Stallone, Goldie Hawn, Jessica Lange, James Caan, Arnold Schwarzenneger and Sean Penn.
 
Friedman was also on the set of many modern-day classics.  They include: Summer of ’42, Brian’s Song, Day of the Locust, Enter The Dragon, Harry and Walter Go to New York, Carrie, Grease, Superman, King Kong, Ice Castles, Butterflies Are Free, Tom Horn, The Hunter, That Championship Season, Stop Making Sense, The Falcon and the Snowman, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Midnight Run, Rambo III, Rocky IV and The Running Man.
 
The photographer also lent his considerable skills to television, snapping photos for classic shows such as M*A*S*H, Happy Days, The Dukes of Hazzard, Laverne & Shirley, Julia, Room 222, Mork & Mindy, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and the epic mini-series The Thorn Birds.
 
In 1986, Friedman became the first and only Still Photographer to be voted in to the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences.
 
By the 1990s, the film industry had drastically changed and Friedman didn’t like what he saw.  He decided to move on to other photographic challenges such as international endurance racing and classical ballet, for which his pictures have won numerous awards. 
 
David Friedman currently resides in southern California and is working on a photo book regarding his Hollywood years, called My Life In The Movies. (Dalton Watson Fine Books, 2008)