# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/budd-friedman
# Generated: 2026-08-13T07:47:54.774Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/budd-friedman"
name: "Budd Friedman"
slug: "budd-friedman"
description: "Gerson Merton Lenord Friedman, known professionally as Budd Friedman, was an American actor and comedian, as well as the founder and original proprietor and MC of the Improvisation Comedy Club, which opened in 1963, on West 44th Street near the SE corner of 9th Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. He was instrumental in launching the comedy careers of Rodney Dangerfield, Richard Lewis, Robert Klein, Jay Leno, Andy Kaufman, Freddie Prinze, Steve Landesberg, Jimmie Walker, and for a brief time, managed Bette Midler at the early stages of her career. It was with Friedman's help and guidance that Ms. Midler first appeared on The Tonight Show."
tagline: "American actor"
image: "https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/dnfl1uEYa187eB5u0pzaWFKMuSz.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Actors"
  slug: "actors"
profileType:
  name: "Actor"
  slug: "actor"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q33999"
birthDate: "1932-06-06"
deathDate: "2022-11-12"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           45.99
  momentum:             10.87388375372082
  historical:           6.822212
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     50
  profileCompleteness:  75
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0295172/"
    handle:    "nm0295172"
sources:
  - url: "https://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%DA%88_%D9%81%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%88%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86"
    title: "بڈ فریڈمین"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%AF_%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "بود فريدمان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%AF_%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "بود فريدمان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%AF_%D9%81%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "بود فریدمان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Friedman"
    title: "Budd Friedman"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Friedman"
    title: "Budd Friedman"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Friedman"
    title: "Budd Friedman"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4984101"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://www.themoviedb.org/person/552242"
    title: "Budd Friedman"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump