Name Michael Freedland Role Biographer | Children Jonathan Freedland | |
Books Dean Martin: King of th, Witch Hunt in Hollywoo, Doris Day: The Illustrated, Elvis Memories: The Real, All the Way: A Biograph | ||
Michael Rodney Freedland (born 18 December 1934) is a British biographer, journalist and broadcaster.
Beginning as a journalist on local papers in 1951, he was on the staff of the Daily Sketch for a year before turning freelance in 1961. His broadcasting career began in the following year, and he has written for The Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, The Guardian, The Observer and The Economist.
As a biographer, he has specialised in Hollywood and its entertainers, plus some prominent British subjects. His book on Al Jolson, originally published in 1971, reached its eighth edition in 2007. Freedland has written forty books, mainly biographies. He has written and presented programmes for Radio 2 in the UK on his subjects, including Elvis Presley, Bob Hope and Judy Garland. Asked about what to include in an individual's life history, the immediate concern was the Garland book, he said in 2010: "I am a great believer in telling it as it was. I am very certain of the need for warts and all. How else can you tell a full rounded story?"
Freedland's books have included more general histories. Witch Hunt in Hollywood: McCarthyism's War On Tinseltown is an account of the activities of Senator Joseph McCarthy and (the not directly connected) House Un-American Activities Committee. In Freedland's view: "For Communist read Jew. The hearings ... were as much (some would say more) antisemitic as anti-Communist. Hollywood was chosen for the attack because of the great publicity value the movie capital offered. It was also a great opportunity to get at the Jews of Hollywood."
Freedland is Jewish. His radio show, You Don't Have To Be Jewish, began in 1971, and was gradually extended in length. Initially broadcast by BBC Radio London, later LBC, it ran for 24 years. He was married for 52 years to Sara Hocherman, who died in 2012. One of the couple's daughters, Fiona, was a solicitor specialising in medical negligence claims Their middle child, daughter Dani, is a successful charity fundraiser. while their son is the journalist and thriller writer Jonathan Freedland. Like his son, Michael Freedland is a regular contributor to The Jewish Chronicle. His Confessions of a Serial Biographer, an autobiography, appeared in 2005.