William Friedkin
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), 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.
Movie Credits
Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange'
The Exorcist Locations: Georgetown Then and Now
Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock
Making the Connection: Untold Stories of The French Connection
View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining'
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of
Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.'
Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album
Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001
Sorcerers: A Conversation with William Friedkin and Nicolas Winding Refn
Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist
The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo
Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck
The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection'
The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons
