Born Abraham Fried in c.1897, he was a cinematographer in early Hollywood specializing in outdoor and early western cinema. He died tragically along with 9 others while filming Such Men Are Dangerous (1930) off the coast near Santa Monica, the plane he was filming on collided with another plane. Both planes burst into flames before crashing into the ocean. Among the dead were the director, Kenneth Hawks and three other cameramen George Eastman, Otho Jordan, Ben Frankel and Max Gold, the Assistant Director, two property men and the two pilots.