Joseph Friedman (1920 – 2016) was born and raised in St. Joseph. In 1941 he entered The Illinois College of Podiatric Medicine, in Chicago. His schooling was interrupted December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He entered the Army in 1942. He rose to first lieutenant and was with Patton’s 3rd Army troops as they liberated the first concentration camp in Germany. From 1945-1946 he worked in the displaced persons camps to help repatriate Eastern and Western Europeans who had been slave laborers for the Nazi war machine. After his discharge in 1946 he returned to Podiatric college. He practiced in St. Joseph from 1949-1962.

Friedman began acting as a hobby, appearing in St. Joseph Community Theater plays. He did this from 1952-1962. In 1962 he closed his podiatry office and joined a melodrama troupe in Colorado for a season. He then moved to New York to pursue a career in theater. In 1964 he appeared in his first Broadway play The Deputy. He also began to appear in several soap operas and as he did so, he joined the Actor’s Union and was obliged to change his name to Joel Frederick.

His second Broadway show was Miracle. After that, he was in Fiddler on the Roof and joined a touring company for Fiddler which lead to 3 years and 2840 performances in the United States and Canada. He continued to act in musicals and off Broadway productions until 1972. For the next 34 years he appeared in many movies and televisions shows. He also worked as an actor, writer and researcher for Jack Palance of Ripley’s Believe it or Not. Next came the research and documentation for the 1989 premier of The Making of the Wizard of Oz and later the same for Secrets of the Titanic. Dr. Friedman received his first Emmy for this work in the research category.

He moved back to St. Joseph in 1994 along with his wife. He gave lectures and musical performances in St. Joseph to raise money for local charities. He received three keys to the city and the Mayors award for Individual Artist in 1994. He was very active with Missouri Western State University where he received an Honorary Doctorate and established two scholarships for the university.