Oscar-winning director William Friedkin, best known for his acclaimed film The French Connection and the landmark horror flick The Exorcist, has died. Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a close friend of the director’s wife Sherry Lansing, confirmed his passing on Monday. He was 87.
Friedkin began his directing career on television, helming films like The People vs. Paul Crump and The Thin Blue Line for the small screen along with an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. It wasn’t until the 1970s, however, that he became one of the most respected directors in Hollywood with his film The French Connection earning him his first major awards consideration. With punchy writing, a strong cast featuring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, and Fernando Rey among others, and excellent direction, the 1971 neo-noir thriller would go on to win him his first and only Oscar for Best Director while also raking in Best Picture and Best Actor for Hackman, establishing Friedkin as a Hollywood A-lister.
His most recognizable and enduring film, however, would come just two years later with the release of The Exorcist. One of the premier supernatural horror films to ever be released, the film told the story of a young girl’s horrifying possession and her mother’s desperate efforts along with priests from the Catholic Church to exorcise the demon from her. It was a historic achievement in filmmaking, becoming the first horror film to ever be nominated for Best Picture while also earning Friedkin another nod for Best Director, acting nods for both Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, and Jason Miller, and a win for Best Adapted Screenplay for William Peter Blatty who adapted the film from his book of the same name. A franchise would be spawned from Friedkin and Blatty‘s film, including a legacy sequel The Exorcist: Believer coming out on October 13.
Friedkin Continued Pushing the Envelope Beyond The Exorcist
Although The Exorcist would be his last real box office success, that didn’t stop Friedkin from putting together a long career in filmmaking that would stretch on to this day. He’d go on to direct Sorcerer in 1977 which has since gone on to receive more acclaim in recent years and the stylized To Live and Die in L.A. in 1985. The Exorcist III was initially in the cards for him, but he left the project over creative differences. From there, he also did more television work, turning to other horror series like Tales From the Crypt and The Twilight Zone. In the 2000s, he put forward titles like Bug, The Hunted, and the starry Killer Joe before his last film to be released, The Devil and Father Amorth in 2017. He had one more film on the way prior to his death in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial with Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Clarke.
Though Friedkin‘s time at the top of the directing world was short-lived, he had a very long and fruitful career that saw him take on television films and episodes, documentaries, massive feature-length films, and criminally underrated gems. Our condolences go out to his loved ones.
via Collider