David Rayfiel (September 9, 1923 – June 22, 2011) was an American screenwriter and frequent collaborator of director Sydney Pollack (1934–2008). Born in Brooklyn, New York and educated at Brooklyn College, his father was congressman Leo F. Rayfiel (1888–1978).His first marriage ended in divorce. His second wife was actress Maureen Stapleton (1925–2006), from 1963 to 1966, before that union also ended in divorce.His former house at Day, New York, known as David Rayfiel House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
I don't think I have a strong sense of story [but] a moment when people speak, I know when it's strong and when it's not.
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We are not alike, but we are complementary. There's something he [director Sydney Pollack] doesn't have that I have, and there's certainly some things he has that I don't have. And we seriously try not to make any mistakes together.
3
In those days, I thought I would write everything, Sydney would direct everything and Robert would act in everything. [on his screenwriter-director relationship with Sydney Pollack, with whom he has been collaborating since 1962 when the director revived Rafiel's play "P.S. 193."]
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Fact
1
He excelled at doctoring scripts, filling in dialogue and fleshing out the background of the characters. Much of his work was uncredited.
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Noted for his frequent collaborations with Robert Redford and Sidney Pollack.
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Studies at Brooklyn College interrupted by wartime army service in Europe during World War II. Graduated with a BA in 1947, then studied playwriting at Yale, earning a Masters Degree in 1950.
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His father, Leo F. Rayfiel, was a Democratic congressman and New York state district court judge.
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Because there wasn't enough money to pay him off for his additional writing on their first film together, The Slender Thread (1965), Sydney Pollack compensated Rayfiel with a new electric typewriter.
$1.5 Million
