'The Exorcist' Director William Friedkin Has Passed Away At The Age of 87
Image Source: IMDb
William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist and many other horror and police thrillers, died Monday, August 8, at the age of 87 in Los Angeles. The confirmation arrived via Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of Friedkin’s wife Sherry Lansing. His wife and two sons have survived him.
Born in Chicago in 1935, William Friedkin first found a passion for filmmaking in his twenties, having watched Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941). In an interview with Roger Ebert in 2014, Friedkin claimed that it had changed his life, making him understand that filmmaking was an art form, offering unique ways of storytelling. Finding a job as a runner for a television studio, he soon started directing TV shows before making his debut as a filmmaker.
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The People vs Paul Crimp released in 1962, is a documentary about a real-life death row prisoner. The documentary contributed to Crimp’s death sentence being commuted, which cemented Friedkin’s belief in the power of cinema. The documentary won him a Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival and put him in charge of the documentary division at WBKB.
Image Source: IMDb
Friedkin’s first feature was Good Times, released in 1967, which was a pop music story starring musical duo Sonny and Cher. Following that, he was hired for The Night They Raided Minsky’s, where Friedkin provided a fresh, modern look for the nostalgic piece through his camerawork and editing. In 1971, The French Connection would boost his fame, providing a lot of buzz around The Exorcist when it arrived on the market in 1973.
That critical fame wasn’t to last, however. The 1977 film The Sorcerer aimed to be Friedkin’s most ambitious film yet but went wildly over budget and would bomb at the box office, raking in just under $6 million of its $22 million budget. Undeterred by that flop, Friedkin continued with filmmaking, where his career had many ups and downs at the box office.
His last film is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Titled The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, it stars Kiefer Sutherland, who commented on Friedkin’s passing. “Working with William Friedkin was one of the great honors of my career. My condolences go to Sherry and his family.”
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