Allan Franklin Arbus (February 15, 1918 – April 19, 2013) was an American actor and photographer. He was the former husband of photographer Diane Arbus. He is known for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on the CBS television series M*A*S*H.
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Early life
Arbus was born in New York City, to a Jewish family, the son of fur retailer Harry Arbus and his wife Rose (née Goldberg). He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where he first developed an interest in acting while appearing in a student play.
Also a music lover, before becoming an actor, he was reportedly so taken by Benny Goodman's recordings that he took up playing the clarinet.
Photography career
During the 1940s, Arbus became a photographer for the United States Army. In 1946, after he completed his military service, he and his first wife, photographer Diane Arbus (née Nemerov, whom he had married in 1941), started a photographic advertising business in Manhattan. Arbus was primarily known for advertising photography that appeared in Glamour, Seventeen, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and other magazines, as well as the weekly newspaper advertising photography for Russeks, a Fifth Avenue department store in Manhattan co-founded by Diane's grandfather, Frank Russek.
