Dr. Emanuel J. Fried was born on March 1, 1913 in Brooklyn, NY. As a young boy, Fried’s family moved to Buffalo, NY where he finished elementary and secondary education and wrote his first play at the age of 14. Fried worked as a bellhop and elevator operator, concessionaire, theater usher, salesmen, and newsboy. His first play written as a teenager was about an entertainer while working as a bellhop.

Dr. Fried continuing acting under the stage name Edward Mann and became close friend with theater and film director Elia Kazan while living in New York City. In 1939, he returned to Buffalo and was employed as a template maker for Curtis-Wright airplane factory. While employed at Curtis-Wright he was active with the UAW—CIO Volunteer Organizing Committee and the UE for United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers and also organized employees at the Wurlitzer, Spaulding Fibre, Buffalo Bolt, Columbus McKinnon, Wales-Stippit, Pratt & Letchworth, Otis Elevator, & Blaw-Knox. In addition, Dr. Fried led the Labor Writers Workshop and was a representative to the Buffalo AFL-CIO Council. Questionable activities while representing several unions resulted in his blacklist from unions and employment for several years. He served in World War II on the 20th Infantry and worked up to the position of lieutenant until discharged in late 1945. During the McCarthy Era, Fried was a person of interest by the Un-American Activities Committee on two separate occasions in which he refused to answer questions. Most notably from a 2007 interview “my answer will be, I will not answer. The first and the Fifth” “or in other words, it’s none of your business”.

For a short time Fried served as director of the Buffalo Contemporary Theatre that produced shows about the working class. Dr. Fried attended the University of New York at Buffalo earning a Bachelor and Masters of Arts in Humanities in 1971 and a Ph. D in English in 1974. Dr. Fried taught English and Creative Writing courses at Buffalo State College and retired in 1983 but continued to teach part-time until 2008. In 2009, Dr. Fried donated his collection to the E.H. Butler Library Archives and Special Collections.