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William Friedkin

William Friedkin

Director · Born 1935-08-29 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

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Biography

William David Friedkin (August 29, 1935 – August 7, 2023) was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in the early 1960s, he is best known for his crime thriller film The French Connection (1971), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and the horror film The Exorcist (1973), which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Friedkin's other films in the 1970s and 1980s include the drama The Boys in the Band (1970), considered a milestone of queer cinema; the originally deprecated, now lauded thriller Sorcerer (1977); the crime comedy drama The Brink's Job (1978); the controversial thriller Cruising (1980); and the neo-noir thriller To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). Although Friedkin's works suffered an overall commercial and critical decline in the late 1980s, his last three feature films, all based on plays, were positively received by critics: the psychological horror film Bug (2006), the crime film Killer Joe (2011), and the legal drama film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023), …

Directed

  1. The Exorcist (1973) — Director
  2. The French Connection (1971) — Director
  3. Killer Joe (2012) — Director
  4. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) — Director
  5. Tales from the Crypt (1989) — Director
  6. The Hunted (2003) — Director
  7. Rules of Engagement (2000) — Director
  8. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) — Director
  9. Sorcerer (1977) — Director
  10. Cruising (1980) — Director
  11. Bug (2007) — Director
  12. 12 Angry Men (1997) — Director
  13. Jade (1995) — Director
  14. The Twilight Zone (1985) — Director
  15. The Guardian (1990) — Director
  16. Blue Chips (1994) — Director
  17. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023) — Director
  18. The Boys in the Band (1970) — Director
  19. The Devil and Father Amorth (2018) — Director
  20. The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) — Director
  21. The Brink's Job (1978) — Director
  22. Deal of the Century (1983) — Director
  23. Rampage (1987) — Director
  24. The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) — Director
  25. The Birthday Party (1968) — Director
  26. Good Times (1967) — Director
  27. Conversation with Fritz Lang (1975) — Director
  28. Jailbreakers (1994) — Director
  29. C.A.T. Squad (1986) — Director
  30. Rebel Highway (1994) — Director
  31. C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf (1988) — Director
  32. Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album (1986) — Director
  33. The People vs. Paul Crump (1962) — Director
  34. Henri Langlois vu par... (2014) — Director
  35. The Pickle Brothers (1967) — Director
  36. Pro Football: Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon (1965) — Director
  37. The Bold Men (1965) — Director
  38. The Painter's Voice (2007) — Director
  39. The Thin Blue Line (1966) — Director

Also appeared in

  1. The Simpsons (1989) — Dr. Kenneth Humphries (voice)
  2. The Devil and Father Amorth (2018) — Self
  3. Without Limits (1998) — TV Director
  4. Friedkin Uncut (2018) — Self
  5. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist (2019) — Self
  6. A Decade Under the Influence (2003) — Self
  7. Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014) — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
  8. 100 Years of Warner Bros. (2023) — Self
  9. The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist (1998) — Self - Director
  10. I Am Alfred Hitchcock (2021) — Self (archive footage)
  11. Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy (2005)
  12. Fellini of the Spirits (2020) — Self
  13. The Visions of Stanley Kubrick (2007) — Self
  14. A Fuller Life (2013) — Self - Reader (segment "My Ballsy Yarns")
  15. Conversation with Fritz Lang (1975) — Self
  16. Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange' (2007) — Self
  17. Making the Boys (2011) — Self
  18. Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck (2013) — Self
  19. Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001 (2007) — Self
  20. View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining' (2007) — Self
  21. The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style (2009) — Self
  22. The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't (2008) — Self
  23. Stanley Kubrick in Focus (2012) — Self
  24. Howard Hawks: American Artist (1997) — Self
  25. The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection' (2000) — Self
  26. Miller's Tale (2011) — Self
  27. Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot (2013) — Self
  28. Making the Connection: Untold Stories of The French Connection (2001) — Self
  29. North by Northwest: One for the Ages (2009) — Self
  30. In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy (2008) — Self
  31. Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001 (2007) — Self
  32. The History of 'Cruising' (2007) — Self
  33. Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of (2012) — Self
  34. Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.' (2003) — Self
  35. Through the Night with... (2002) — Self
  36. The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2013) — Self
  37. Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic (2012) — Self
  38. Fear in the Dark (1991) — Self
  39. Exorcising 'Cruising' (2007) — Self
  40. Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album (1986) — Self