William Friedkin, who after two major 70s hits was anointed one of Hollywood’s top directors when he was only in his 30s, has died.
Marcia Franklin, his executive assistant for 24 years, told the AP that Friedkin, who won the best director Oscar for The French Connection, died Monday in LA. His son Cedric Friedkin said he died after a long illness. Cedric said,
He was role model to me and to (my brother) Jack. 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 NYC police Detective James “Popeye” Doyle, played by Gene Hackman.
The movie, which was made for only $2 million, became a box office hit when it was released in 1971 and also won Academy Awards for best picture, screenplay and film editing.
An even bigger blockbuster, The Exorcist, was released in 1973 and 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, made the film a box-office sensation.
The Exorcist received 10 Oscar nominations, including one for Friedkin as director, and won two, for Blatty’s script and for sound.
Friedkin said in 2021,
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. If I can’t see a film in my mind’s eye, I won’t do the film.”
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.
William Friedkin was 87.
(Photo, YouTube; via AP)
