William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of The Exorcist dead at 87

William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning director of classic and controversial horror film The Exorcist, has died at 87.

William Friedkin, the groundbreaking US director of The Exorcist and The French Connection, has passed away aged 87.

Friedkin was among a crop of influential young “New Hollywood” directors in the 1970s who radically reshaped the US film industry, disrupting a system in which powerful studio producers had reigned supreme.

Alongside fellow auteurs such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, Friedkin exploded onto the scene in the early 1970s, with gritty cop drama The French Connection. Starring Gene Hackman, it won five Oscars including for best director and best picture.

He followed that up with The Exorcist, in 1973, which is probably his most famous film.

US film director William Friedkin with wife Sherry Lansing, left, and actress Linda Blair who was the child star of The Exorcist. Picture: AFP

That horror movie was a huge commercial and critical hit, as well as being deeply controversial.

The shocking film about a 12-year-old girl possessed by the devil was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning two, and spawned multiple sequels.

Young actress Linda Blair, who played the possessed girl Regan, claimed she never recovered from the physical and psychological demands of the film, which included a scene where she famously walks backwards down a staircase while upside down.

The Exorcist was directed by William Friedkin, who has died age 87. Picture: Supplied

Friedkin passed away in Los Angeles on Monday local time after suffering unspecified health issues in recent years, said family friend Stephen Galloway, a former Hollywood Reporter executive editor.

“He died this morning,” Galloway told AFP, after speaking with Friedkin’s wife.

Friedkin had “been working until a few weeks ago,” but “had been in declining health,” he added.

Friedkin’s career never hit the same heights as when he released The Exorcist and went into decline after the hugely expensive flop Sorcerer in 1977, and the gay-themed Cruising in 1980 starring Al Pacino, which was a crime movie about bizarre gay murders that offended rights activists of the time.

Cruising, directed by William Friedkin, was set in the heavy leather gay bars of New York, and was just as controversial as The Exorcist, but not in a good way. Picture: Supplied

He nevertheless continued to work and also directed To Live And Die in LA in 1985 and the music video for Laura Branigan’s 1984 song Self Control among other projects.

In 2013 he wrote his memoir, The Friedkin Connection, in which he looked back at his early success, his flops, and explained some of his filmmaking secrets including how he did the projectile vomiting scene in The Exorcist.

Friedkin continued directing well into his 80s. His final film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, starring Kiefer Sutherland, is set to premiere at this year’s Venice film festival.

Friedkin is survived by his fourth wife Sherry Lansing – a former Paramount Pictures studio chief – and two sons.

On Monday afternoon, tributes poured in for the Oscar winner.

Stephen King posted on Twitter: “Very sorry to hear of the passing of William Friedkin, a deeply talented filmmaker,” and went on to say that he preferred The Sorcerer to The Exorcist.

Elijah Wood said Friedkin was “a true cinematic master,” while director Guillermo del Toro tweeted: “The world has lost one of the Gods of Cinema. Cinema has lost a true Scholar and I have lost a dear, loyal and true friend … We were blessed to have him.”

– with AFP

Originally published as William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of The Exorcist dead at 87