Producer, Lyricist. Born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina, he was raised in Seattle, Washington. After graduating high school, he moved to Illinois and worked as a pianist for a Chicago music publisher. During his time in Chicago, he met Minnie Marx, the mother of the Marx Brothers. She introduced Arthur to her sons, which led to his teaming with them and touring the vaudeville circuit as a singer and writer of musical material for the brothers. In 1921, he collaborated for the first time with composer Nacio Herb Brown on the song "When Buddha Smiles." In 1923, Freed's first major success came when he wrote "I Cried For You" with Gus Arnheim and Abe Lyman. After a few years of touring the nightclub circuit, Freed joined MGM in 1928 as a lyricist, and was assigned to work with his former collaborator, Nacio Herb Brown. They were responsible many early musicals including, "The Broadway Melody" (1929) featuring the songs, "You Were Meant For Me," "Broadway Melody," and "The Wedding of the Painted Doll," of which Freed sings on screen. For the motion picture "Hollywood Revue of 1929", Freed and Brown contributed "Singin' in the Rain", and for the film "The Pagan" (1929) they wrote "Pagan Love Song." Throughout the decade he wrote songs and scores, mostly with Brown, for the movies, "Montana Moon" (1930), "Dancing Lady" (1933), "Sadie McKee" (1934)," A Night at the Opera" (1935), "Broadway Melody of 1936" (1935), and "Broadway Melody of 1938" (1937). Freed worked as associate producer (uncredited) on the movie "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). After which he began his second career as a film producer. Freed was a staunch proponent of the "integrated" musical, wherein the songs became integral in the storyline rather than their being mere highlights. MGM's legendary 'Freed Unit' produced nearly 50 movies, and helped elevate MGM as the studio of the musical. Some of his credits include, "Babes in Arms" (1939), "Lady Be Good" (1941), "Cabin in the Sky" (1943), "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944), "The Harvey Girls" (1946), "Good News" (1947)," Easter Parade" (1948), "On the Town" (1949), Annie Get Your Gun" (1950), "An American in Paris" (1951), "Show Boat" (1951), "Singin' in the Rain" (1952), and "Gigi" (1958). Academy Awards were bestowed on his motion pictures "An American in Paris" and "Gigi" for Best Picture. After leaving MGM in 1961, Freed served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1963 to 1966. In 1951, he was presented the Irving G. Thalberg Award for "Creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production." In 1967 a special honorary Academy Award was presented for his distinguished service to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Freed also produced five highly rated Academy Award telecasts, and one pre-Oscar special. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.