Friedman was born in New York City, the son of Leonard and Madeline (Uris) Friedman. A 1945 graduate of the Horace Mann School, in the same class as his lifelong friend Allard K. Lowenstein, Friedman earned a BFA from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. From 1951 to 1953 he served in the US Army as a military policeman in Korea, where he was awarded a Bronze Star. He has taught writing at the Juilliard School and at SAGE. He was a friend to many noted artists like Lee Krasner and Fritz Bultman, and for several years Friedman was the companion of the noted American poet, translator, and critic Richard Howard. Howard dedicated his poem "1915: A Pre-Raphaelite Ending, London" to him. Friedman was also active off-Broadway as a writer and producer, collaborating with actor Howard Da Silva; author Ben Maddow; and playwright Arnold Perl. Perl authored a 1957 play, “Tevya and his Daughters,” co-produced by Friedman and starring Mike Kellin as Sholem Aleichem’s dairyman ... a production which inspired 1964’s “Fiddler on the Roof.” Friedman died of a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment on April 20, 2010.

In 1965 Friedman was given the O. Henry Award from the Society of Arts & Sciences for Ocean, which formed part of his novel Totempole.