‘The Exorcist’ director, Friedkin, dies at 87
Won a best director Oscar for ‘The French Connection’
LOS ANGELES — William Friedkin, the generation-defining director who brought a visceral realism to 1970s hits “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist” and was quickly anointed one of Hollywood’s top directors when he was only in his 30s, has died. He was 87.
Friedkin, who won the best director Oscar for “The French Connection,” died Monday in Los Angeles, Marcia Franklin, his executive assistant for 24 years, told The Associated Press on behalf of his family and wife, former studio head Sherry Lansing. His son Cedric Friedkin told the AP he died after a long illness.
“He was role model to me and to (my brother) Jack,” Cedric Friedkin said. “He was a massive inspiration.”
He cemented his legacy early with “The French Connection,” which was based on a true story and deals with the efforts of maverick New York City police Detective James “Popeye” Doyle to track down Frenchman Fernando Rey, mastermind of a large drug pipeline funneling heroin into the United States.
It contains one of the most thrilling chase scenes ever filmed: Doyle, played by Gene Hackman in an Oscar-winning performance, barely misses making the arrest on a subway train, then hurries to his police car to follow the train as it emerges on an elevated railway. He races underneath, dodging cars, trucks and pedestrians, including a woman pushing a baby buggy, before abandoning the pursuit.
The movie, which was made for only $2 million, became a box office hit when it was released in 1971. It won Academy Awards for best picture, screenplay and film editing, and led critics to hail Friedkin, then just 32, as a leading member of a new generation of filmmakers.
He followed with an even bigger blockbuster, “The Exorcist,” released in 1973 and based on William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel about a 12-year-old girl possessed by the devil.
The harrowing scenes of the girl’s possession and a splendid cast, including Linda Blair as the girl, Ellen Burstyn as her mother and Max Von Sydow and Jason Miller as the priests who try to exorcise the devil, helped make the film a box-office sensation. It was so scary for its era that many viewers fled the theater before it was over and some reported being unable to sleep for days afterward.
“The Exorcist” received 10 Oscar nominations, including one for Friedkin as director, and won two, for Blatty’s script and for sound.
With that second success, Friedkin would go on to direct movies and TV shows well into the 21st century. But he would never again come close to matching the acclaim he’d received for those early works, and gained a reputation for clashing with both actors and studio executives.
“I embody arrogance, insecurity and ambition that spur me on as they hold me back,” he wrote in his 2012 memoir.
His 1977 film “Sorcerer,” a gangster thriller starring Roy Scheider was widely panned at the time and also failed with audiences. It’s since been reappraised by critics and has become a cult classic that Friedkin himself would continue to defend. In 2017, he told IndieWire that it’s the only of his films that he could still watch.
“The zeitgeist had changed by the time it came out,” he said in 2013. “It came out at the time of ‘Star Wars,’ and that more than any film that I can recall really captured the zeitgeist.”
“Star Wars” was a film he was approached to produce, but he said later that he couldn’t see its potential. He also turned down“M( asterisk)A( asterisk) S( asterisk) H” for the same reason.
“I haven’t made that many films. I think, in a career that’s over 60 years, I don’t think I’ve made 20 films,” he said in 2021. “If I can’t see a film in my mind’s eye, I won’t do the film.”
“The Simpsons” writer and producer Mike Reiss said they heard Friedkin was a fan of the show and put a parody of “Sorcerer” in the Mr. Plow episode.
“Years later, he visited the show and charmed everyone and even would up as a guest star,” Reiss wrote on social media.
A few years after “Sorcerer” brought him back to Earth, he followed with another disappointment: “Cruising,” starring Al Pacino as a cop who goes undercover to solve the grisly murders of several gay men. It was protested by gay rights activists for how it depicted homosexuality.
Other film credits included “To Live and Die in L.A.,” “Rules of Engagement” and a TV remake of the classic play and Sidney Lumet movie “12 Angry Men.” Friedkin also directed episodes for such TV shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Rebel Highway” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
Born in Chicago on Aug. 29, 1939, he began working in local TV productions as a teenager. By age 16, he was directing live shows.
In recent years, Friedkin wrote a candid memoir, “The Friedkin Connection,” and directed several well-received movies adapted from Tracy Letts plays including “Bug” and “Killer Joe,” starring Matthew McConaughey as a hit man. And he wasn’t done working yet: A new film, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” starring Kiefer Sutherland, is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival next month.
He was also always willing to reflect on his rollercoaster career, especially as “The French Connection” celebrated its 50th anniversary. Thinking back to the iconic car chase sequence, Friedkin told NBC News in 2021 that it was legitimately life-threatening and that he’d never do it again.
Friedkin’s influence on film and popular culture continues to live on too. A new “Exorcist” film is even coming out this year, from director David Gordon Green, with Burstyn reprising her role.