[3][citation needed] Malsin, Freed's stepfather, was "a successful merchant selling clothing for a time, then military gear, and later soft drinks.
After World War II, when the wartime boom deflated and prices soared, his stepfather’s business collapsed and he committed suicide".
Freed’s professional career began in 1958 as artistic director of the Valley Playhouse in Tarzana, California, where he acted and directed.
[3] He took leading roles in The Country Girl, The Lady’s Not for Burning, The Lower Depths, Voice of the Turtle, Taming of the Shrew, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
He directed Joe Stern in Detective Story, Harry Towne in Separate Tables, and Guy Stockwell in Billy Budd.
In 1969, Freed’s play Inquest established him as a playwright, with productions occurring in New York, Hungary, Japan, Cleveland, and Los Angeles.
[9] Stayton also said that in July 1969, Hoover approved the distribution of leaflets falsely stating that Freed “is a PIG” and a law enforcement informant.
[9] In 1973, Freed published Agony in New Haven, a book that explored the implications of racial bias in jury selection in the 1970s trial of Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins, leaders of the Black Panther Party.
In their 1980 book Death in Washington, Freed and Fred Landis, a political science teacher at Cal State Los Angeles, charged that the Central Intelligence Agency was involved in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier.
They also repeated Gaeton Fonzi's claim that Phillips had earlier served as Lee Harvey Oswald's case officer and used the alias "Maurice Bishop".
[11] In 1996, Freed and Raymond P. Briggs, a professor at American Heritage University, wrote Killing Time: The First Full Investigation into the Unsolved Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
[12][13] In an interview on Larry King Live, Ron Goldman’s father called into the show and berated Freed about the book.
Freed's visit followed his being contacted by Jim Jones, who wanted him and Mark Lane to uncover alleged plots by intelligence agencies against the Temple.
[17] Lane held press conferences with the results of his and Freed's visits to Jonestown, stating that "none of the charges" against the Temple "are accurate or true".