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William Friedkin

Personal Info

Known For

Directing

Birthdate

1935-08-29

Day of Death

2023-08-07

Place of Birth

Chicago, Illinois, USA

William Friedkin

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), released two months after his death. He also worked extensively as an opera director from 1998 until his death, and directed various television films and series episodes for television. Description above from the Wikipedia article William Friedkin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography (63)

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⭐ 0 Role: Self (archive footage)

Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders

2026
⭐ 0 Role: Self

Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist

2024
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⭐ 0 Role: Self

The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons

2022
⭐ 6.0 Role: Self

Algren

2021
⭐ 7.3 Role: Self (archive footage)

I Am Alfred Hitchcock

2021
⭐ 6.6 Role: Self

Fellini of the Spirits

2020
⭐ 7.4 Role: Self

Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist

2019
⭐ 7.1 Role: Self

Friedkin Uncut

2018
⭐ 5.1 Role: Self

The Devil and Father Amorth

2018
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⭐ 0 Role: Unknown

Return to the Genre

2016
⭐ 4.5 Role: Unknown

Sorcerers: A Conversation with William Friedkin and Nicolas Winding Refn

2015
⭐ 6.5 Role: Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles

2014
⭐ 4.0 Role: Self

Henri Langlois vu par...

2014
⭐ 10.0 Role: Self

The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz

2013
⭐ 6.6 Role: Self - Reader (segment "My Ballsy Yarns")

A Fuller Life

2013