Rayfiel graduated with a master’s degree from the Yale School of Drama. In 1962, the Writers’ Stage Company produced his play P.S. 193, starring James Earl Jones, Severn Darden, and Doris Belack.
He spent most of his career working on screenplays, often doing revision and touch-ups, sometimes without credit. Among the many films he worked on were The Way We Were, This Property Is Condemned, Lipstick, Absence of Malice, Three Days of the Condor, and Sabrina.
Rayfiel’s first two marriages, including his marriage to the actress Maureen Stapleton, ended in divorce. In addition to his third wife, Lynne Schwarzenbek-Rayfiel, he is survived by a daughter, Eliza Roberts, two stepchildren, Danny Allentuck and Katherine Allentuck, and a brother, Howard.
