Fred Melamed

Melamed was born in Queens, New York, the product of a brief love affair between Nancy Zala, an actress and director, and Stan Silverstone, a British psychoanalyst. He was adopted by a secular Jewish family, Louis Melamed, a Manhattan television producer, and his wife, Syma (Krichefsky) Melamed, a sometime actress and housewife. His biological father was a relative of the prominent Adler acting family, including Luther and Stella Adler. He attended the Hunter College Elementary School, a primary school for gifted children, and Riverdale Country School. His father worked with the TV pioneer Nat Hiken on such shows as Car 54, Where Are You? and The Phil Silvers Show. When he was sixteen, his family had financial difficulties, and was forced to move to Hollywood, Florida. Melamed has said that he was raised in a non-believer Jewish family who never went to synagogue, except to attend a cousin's bar mitzvah. When he was asked if he wanted to attend Hebrew school, he said no, and thus had no religious training. However, he credits his non-religious upbringing as helping him to develop a belief in God later in life, as he had no "forced dogma to overcome."