Born in New York City on February 18, 1947, David attended the High School of Music and Art (now LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and Music & Art), then Pace College. He commenced his writing career in 1965 with an interview with an Andy Warhol at the "Silver Factory"; published in Film Culture magazine #40 in the Spring 1966. He continued to contribute to that publication through to 1983.
Contributions to other publications during the 1960's include December and
The Village Voice.  David met Bill Reed in 1972, and in 1976 moved to Los Angeles with him and began work as a film critic and entertainment journalist for the Los Angeles
Herald-Examiner. In 1982 collaborated with Reed on the book, Rock On Film (Delilah/G.P. Putnam's), while continuing to write for diverse publications including the
San Francisco Examiner, Film Comment, Film Quarterly, Rolling Stone, Sight
& Sound, Cahiers du Cinema, The Los Angeles Reader, Los Angeles,
Positif, Enclitic, Wide Angle, New Times: Los Angeles, Daily Variety  and
The Advocate.

David’s television appearances include: Anthony Perkins: The E! True Hollywood
Story (1998); Rock Hudson: The E! True Hollywood Story (1999); Sonny Bono:
The E! True Hollywood Story (1999); Bob Guccione: The E! True Hollywood
Story (2000); Assignment E!: Gay Hollywood with Leeza Gibbons (2000). The
Hollywood Fashion Machine -- Fashion Duo's (1999); Dressed to Thrill
(1999); and Studio Style Wars (2000).