Current:Home > MarketsWilliam Friedkin, director of 'The Exorcist' and 'The French Connection,' dead at 87-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
William Friedkin, director of 'The Exorcist' and 'The French Connection,' dead at 87
View Date:2024-12-23 16:44:09
LOS ANGELES — William Friedkin, the Oscar winning director who became a top filmmaker in his 30s with the gripping "The French Connection" and the horrifying "The Exorcist" and struggled in the following decades to match his early success 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.
"The French Connection," based on a true story, 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 also 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," based on William Peter Blatty's best-selling 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 from her, 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.
It 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 success of those early works.
Other film credits included "To Live and Die in L.A.," "Cruising," "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.
"My main influence was dramatic radio when I was a kid," he said in a 2001 interview. "I remember listening to it in the dark, Everything was left to the imagination. It was just sound. I think of the sounds first and then the images."
He moved from live shows to documentaries, making "The People Versus Paul Crump," in 1962. It was the story of a prison inmate who rehabilitates himself on Death Row after being sentenced for the murder of a guard during a botched robbery at a Chicago food plant.
Producer David Wolper was so impressed with it that he brought Friedkin to Hollywood to direct network TV shows.
After working on such shows as "The Bold Ones," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" and the documentary "The Thin Blue Line," Friedkin landed his first film, 1967's "Good Times." It was a lighthearted musical romp headlined by the pop duo Sonny and Cher in what would be their only movie appearance together.
He followed that with "The Night They Raided Minsky's," about backstage life at a burlesque theater, and "The Birthday Party," from a Harold Pinter play. He then gained critical attention with 1970's "The Boys in the Band," a landmark film about gay men.
Friedkin had three brief marriages in the 1970s and '80s, to French actress Jeanne Moreau; British actress Lesley-Anne Down, with whom he had a son; and longtime Los Angeles TV news anchor Kelly Lange. In 1991 he married Paramount studio executive Lansing.
In recent years, Friedkin was often called on to reflect on his career around the 50th anniversaries of his classics and was always candid. He also wrote a memoir, "The Friedkin Connection," which came out in 2012. 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.
Thinking back to the iconic car chase sequence in "The French Connection," Friedkin told NBC News in 2021 that it was legitimately life-threatening and that he'd never do it again.
"Everything you see, we actually did. There was no CGI then. There was no way to fake it. I just put the pedal to the metal, and we went 90 miles an hour in city traffic," he said. "The fact that nobody got hurt is a miracle. The fact that I didn't get killed, the fact that some of the crew members didn't get hurt or killed. That's a chance I would never take again. I was young and I didn't give a damn. I just went out and did it. I set out to make a great chase scene and I didn't care about the consequences, and now I do."
The late Associated Press Correspondent Bob Thomas was the primary writer of this obituary.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- What is prize money for NBA Cup in-season tournament? Players get boost in 2024
- T.J. Holmes opens up about being seen as ‘a Black man beating up on' Amy Robach on podcast
- Ohio attorney general rejects voting-rights coalition’s ballot petition for a 2nd time
- Jackson, McCaffrey, Prescott, Purdy, Allen named NFL MVP finalists
- Sister Wives’ Janelle Brown Alleges Ex Kody Made False Claims About Family’s Finances
- Trump briefly testifies in E. Jean Carroll defamation trial
- Lights, Camera, Oscars: Your guide to nominated movies and where to watch them
- Scores of North Carolina sea turtles have died after being stunned by frigid temperatures
- Will Reeve, son of Christopher Reeve, gets engaged to girlfriend Amanda Dubin
- New Jersey Transit is seeking a 15% fare hike that would be first increase in nearly a decade
Ranking
- Georgia House Republicans stick with leadership team for the next two years
- Lights, Camera, Oscars: Your guide to nominated movies and where to watch them
- National Guard officer deployed to southern border given reprimand after pleading guilty to assault
- Media workers strike to protest layoffs at New York Daily News, Forbes and Condé Nast
- Why Suits' Gabriel Macht Needed Time Away From Harvey Specter After Finale
- To help these school kids deal with trauma, mindfulness lessons over the loudspeaker
- New Jersey Transit is seeking a 15% fare hike that would be first increase in nearly a decade
- How Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici Bested Those Bachelor Odds
Recommendation
-
'Red One' review: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans embark on a joyless search for Santa
-
How Sofia Richie's Dad Lionel Richie and Sister Nicole Richie Reacted to Her Pregnancy
-
Sofia Richie is pregnant, expecting first child with husband Elliot Grainge
-
Washington Wizards move head coach Wes Unseld Jr. to front office advisory role
-
US Election Darkens the Door of COP29 as It Opens in Azerbaijan
-
Father accused of trying to date his daughter, charged in shooting of her plus 3 more
-
Losing a job in your 50s is extremely tough. Here are 3 steps to take when layoffs happen.
-
Russell Wilson gushes over wife Ciara and newborn daughter: 'The most beautiful view'