Freed was born to a Jewish family in Charleston, South Carolina,[2][3] and wrote poetry while a high schooler at Phillips Exeter Academy.

[1] In 1939, after working (uncredited) in the role of associate producer[5] on The Wizard of Oz, he was promoted to being the head of his own unit within MGM, and helped elevate the studio to the leading creator of film musicals.

His first solo credit as producer was the film version of Rodgers and Hart's smash Broadway musical Babes in Arms (also 1939),[1] released only a few months after The Wizard of Oz.

Freed brought talent from the Broadway theaters to the MGM soundstages including Vincente Minnelli, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Roger Edens, Kay Thompson, Zero Mostel, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, Charles Walters, orchestrators Conrad Salinger, Johnny Green, Lennie Hayton, and others including Shirley Temple.

He also helped shape the careers of stars including Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Lena Horne, Jane Powell, Esther Williams, Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, Vera-Ellen, and others.

According to Hugh Fordin's book The World of Entertainment, Freed did have a hand in the stage-to-screen adaptation of the 1951 Technicolor remake of Kern and Hammerstein's stage classic, Show Boat.

[8] She also reported this claim on Larry King Live when interviewed on October 25, 1988, further alleging that Louis B. Mayer sexually propositioned her mother in an adjacent room during this incident.