Stephen Jay Friedman (March 15, 1937 – October 4, 1996) was an American film producer known for The Last Picture Show (1971) and The Big Easy (1986).
[2] He began his legal career with the Federal Trade Commission,[1] then went to work as an entertainment attorney for Columbia Pictures and Paramount Studios.
Additional credits at Kings Road include The Best of Times (1986) with Robin Williams and Kurt Russell, The Big Easy (1987, nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film) with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin, Jacknife (1989) with Robert De Niro and Ed Harris, and Kickboxer (1989) with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
[3] Also that year, he set up a foreign office for Kings Road Entertainment in order to handle in-house productions, as well as acquisitions for the studio, and took over operations for Terry Glinwood.
[5] In 1987, Kings Road Entertainment had entered into a partnership with the New Century/Vista Film Corporation, in order to handle distribution of The Big Easy and Morgan Stewart's Coming Home in a twin pack.