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.

Known For

The Simpsons

100 Years of Warner Bros.

Through the Night with...

Leçon de Cinéma

Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck

Without Limits

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles

A Decade Under the Influence

All Movies (63)

• Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders2026 · as Self (archive footage)
• Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist2024 · as Self
• The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons2022 · as Self
• Algren2021 · as Self
• I Am Alfred Hitchcock2021 · as Self (archive footage)
• Fellini of the Spirits2020 · as Self
• Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist2019 · as Self
• Friedkin Uncut2018 · as Self
• The Devil and Father Amorth2018 · as Self
• Return to the Genre2016
• Sorcerers: A Conversation with William Friedkin and Nicolas Winding Refn2015
• Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles2014 · as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• Henri Langlois vu par...2014 · as Self
• The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz2013 · as Self
• A Fuller Life2013 · as Self - Reader (segment "My Ballsy Yarns")
• Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck2013 · as Self
• Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot2013 · as Self
• Stanley Kubrick in Focus2012 · as Self
• Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic2012 · as Self
• Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of2012 · as Self
• Making the Boys2011 · as Self
• Miller's Tale2011 · as Self
• Godard Made in USA2010 · as Self
• The Exorcist Locations: Georgetown Then and Now2010 · as Self
• Raising Hell: Filming the Exorcist2010 · as Self
• Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock2009 · as Self
• The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style2009 · as Self
• North by Northwest: One for the Ages2009 · as Self
• Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman2009 · as Self
• Anatomy of a Chase2009 · as Self
• Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock2008 · as Self
• Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock2008 · as Self
• In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy2008 · as Self
• The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't2008 · as Self
• Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange'2007 · as Self
• View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining'2007 · as Self
• The Visions of Stanley Kubrick2007 · as Self
• Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 20012007 · as Self
• Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 20012007 · as Self
• The History of 'Cruising'2007 · as Self
• Exorcising 'Cruising'2007 · as Self
• Tatort Oper - Wie Filmemacher Oper machen2007 · as Self
• The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo2007 · as Self
• Shadows of Suspense2006 · as Self
• Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy2005
• A Little Solitaire2004 · as Self
• Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.'2003 · as Self
• Pursuing “The Hunted”2003 · as Self
• The Cutting Edge2003 · as Self
• Filming “The Hunted”2003 · as Self
• Narc: The Friedkin Connection2003 · as Self
• A Decade Under the Influence2003 · as Self
• Making the Connection: Untold Stories of The French Connection2001 · as Self
• The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection'2000 · as Self
• Without Limits1998 · as TV Director
• The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist1998 · as Self - Director
• Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy1998 · as Self
• Howard Hawks: American Artist1997 · as Self
• Hollywood Halloween1997 · as Self
• Fear in the Dark1991 · as Self
• Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album1986 · as Self
• Conversation with Fritz Lang1975 · as Self
• Oscars, Actors and The Exorcist1974 · as Self

All TV Shows (4)

• 100 Years of Warner Bros.2023 · as Self
• Leçon de Cinéma2004 · as Self
• Through the Night with...2002 · as Self
• The Simpsons1989 · as Dr. Kenneth Humphries (voice)