He moved to New York City in 1937 and served in the United States Navy during World War II.
He studied at Black Mountain College and was a film critic for the Communist Party USA newspaper The Daily Worker.
From 1953 to 1963 he held an executive position at the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp and Dohme.
[2] He published fifteen books[1] and wrote articles for The New Yorker, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine and other periodicals.
He died on November 7, 1995, at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City from cancer.