August 08, (THEWILL) – William Friedkin, foremost United State director, known for ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The French Connection’, is dead.
He died on Monday at 87.
According to Stephen Galloway, a former Hollywood reporter and executive editor, Friedkin passed away in Los Angeles, after suffering unspecified health issues for a couple of years.
“He died this morning”, confirmed Galloway, after speaking with Friedkin’s wife.
“He had been working until a few weeks ago, but his health had been declining”, he added.
Friedkin was among a crop of influential young new Hollywood directors, who fundamentally reshaped the US film industry, upsetting a long-established 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’.
It won five Oscars including best director and best adapted screenplay.
He released ‘The Exorcist’, in 1973, which 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.
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, who is a former Paramount Pictures Studio chief and two sons.
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