David F. Friedman

A legendary producer of sexploitation films and low-budget gore-fests, David F. Friedman trained at the knee of the legendary promoter Kroger Babb in the 1940s, and worked with the equally notorious director Herschell Gordon Lewis in the 1960s. The son of a newspaper editor father, Friedman was born on Dec. 24, 1923 in Birmingham, AL, the only child of a well-to-do Southern family. Enchanted with show business, he was selling tickets at a local fair by the age of 12 and later landed a job doing publicity and bookings for Paramount Pictures. Following a break for WWII service, he stayed with the studio through 1956, working his way up to head of advertising and PR for the Chicago, IL area.