Noted for his frequent collaborations with Robert Redford and Sidney Pollack.
He excelled at doctoring scripts, filling in dialogue and fleshing out the background of the characters. Much of his work was uncredited.
Because there wasn't enough money to pay him off for his additional writing on their first film together, The Slender Thread (1965), Sydney Pollack compensated Rayfiel with a new electric typewriter.
His father, Leo F. Rayfiel, was a Democratic congressman and New York state district court judge.
Studies at Brooklyn College interrupted by wartime army service in Europe during World War II. Graduated with a BA in 1947, then studied playwriting at Yale, earning a Masters Degree in 1950.