Bruce Jay Friedman

Bruce Jay Friedman was an American writer whose novels, plays and screenplays made him an early figure in modern American black humor. Raised in the Bronx and trained in journalism at the University of Missouri, he served in the Air Force and wrote for its publication Air Training before selling his first short story to The New Yorker. He became an executive editor at Magazine Management Company, then published his first novel, Stern, in 1962, followed by A Mother's Kisses in 1964, and his first play, Scuba Duba, in 1967. The New York Times Magazine named him The Hottest Writer of the Year in 1968. He later turned to screenplays, writing Stir Crazy (1980) and the first draft of Splash, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He also acted in Woody Allen's Another Woman (1988), Husbands and Wives (1992) and Celebrity (1998). He died in 2020.