Buffalo Playwright Manny Fried Dies

Actor, playwright, director, college professor, and activist Manny Fried died February in a Buffalo area nursing home at the age of 97 just a few days short of his ninety-eighth birthday.

Born EmanuelEmanuel Fried in Brooklyn in 1913, one of nine children, Fried moved to Buffalo with his family when he was five years old. Fried wrote his first play at age 15 while working as a bellhop at a local hotel. He was also an usher at Shae’s Theater. Fried served in the Army during World War II and was discharged in 1946.

In the thirties Fried plied his talents on the Broadway stage. Later he returned to Buffalo where he became known as the most dangerous man in western New York as a union organizer and an accused member of the Communist Party. Fried continued his theatrical career in Buffalo; his plays were filled with passion for the working man and an autobiographical element to them. Fried’s works include “Drop Hammer”, “The Dodo Bird”, “Brothers for A’ That”, “Elegy for Stanley Gorski”, “The Second Beginning”, “Marked for Success”, his one man show “Boilermakers and Marinis”, and “Most Dangerous Man”.

At one point Fried was called before the committee for un-American Activities but refused to name names. After winning a play writing contest sponsored by the Junior Chamer of Commerce, the FBI tried to force the Jaycees to rescind the award; they refused and Fried kept his win. Reportedly the FBI has a file thousands of pages long on Fried in an investigation that cost $1 million. As a result of the accusations, Fried was blacklisted in Buffalo; many years later Fired discovered that he and the man responsible for the blacklisting were residents in the same facility.

Well into his nineties, Fried continued to be a major part of Buffalo theater, and was considered by many to be the most important figure in the theater scene. At the age of 93 Fried was writing, directing, teaching, conducting a workship, and acting; “Other than that I’m not doing much,” said Fried. When asked on what advice he would give young playwrights; Fried said, “Don’t give up. Be stubborn. Have a day job, you need that. In the end, being honest in principle wins out, it does. Be true to yourself.”

A widower since 1989 with the death of his wife Rhonda of 48 years, Fried is survived by his two daughters, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.