William Friedkin
Directing
Born: 1935-08-29 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
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.
Known For
The Simpsons
Dr. Kenneth Humphries (voice)
The Devil and Father Amorth
Self
Without Limits
TV Director
Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist
Self
Friedkin Uncut
Self
A Decade Under the Influence
Self
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
100 Years of Warner Bros.
Self
The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist
Self - Director
I Am Alfred Hitchcock
Self (archive footage)
Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
Fellini of the Spirits
Self
A Fuller Life
Self - Reader (segment "My Ballsy Yarns")
The Visions of Stanley Kubrick
Self
Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange'
Self
Conversation with Fritz Lang
Self
Making the Boys
Self
Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck
Self
Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001
Self
View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining'
Self
The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
Self
The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection'
Self
The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't
Self
Through the Night with...
Self
Miller's Tale
Self
Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot
Self
Making the Connection: Untold Stories of The French Connection
Self
North by Northwest: One for the Ages
Self
In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy
Self
Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001
Self
The History of 'Cruising'
Self
Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of
Self
Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.'
Self
The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Self
Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic
Self
Fear in the Dark
Self
Exorcising 'Cruising'
Self
Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album
Self