A writer and TV producer, Freeman wrote for print as well as TV and movies. In the golden age of TV, he wrote scripts for such shows as Playhouse 90 and Desilu Playhouse. As an executive, he oversaw classic shows like The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, and The Beverly Hillbillies. And his novel Father Sky was adapted to the military school movie Taps.
But in addition to his writing, Freeman paid attention to the business of writing: he was a Screen Writers Guild negotiator and won the right for the union to determine how writing credits were displayed on films, and helped the Guild reorganize in 1954 to create the Writers Guild of America. He died October 7 of complications from open heart surgery. He was 92.