William Friedkin
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
Credits
- 2024 · Peter Lorre : Derrière le masque du maudit as Himself (archive)
- 2024 · Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist as Himself
- 2023 · The Exorcist Untold as Self (archive footage)
- 2023 · Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist as Self
- 2023 · 100 Years of Warner Bros. as Self
- 2021 · Algren as Self
- 2021 · I Am Alfred Hitchcock as Self
- 2020 · Fellini of the Spirits as Self
- 2018 · Friedkin Uncut as Self
- 2018 · The Devil and Father Amorth as Himself
- 2016 · Return to the Genre as
- 2015 · Sorcerers: A Conversation with William Friedkin and Nicolas Winding Refn as
- 2014 · Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
- 2014 · Henri Langlois vu par... as Self
- 2013 · The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as Self
- 2013 · A Fuller Life as Self - Reader (segment "My Ballsy Yarns")
- 2013 · Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck as Self
- 2013 · Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot as Self
- 2012 · Stanley Kubrick in Focus as Self
- 2012 · Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic as Self
- 2012 · Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of as Self
- 2011 · Making the Boys as Himself
- 2011 · Miller's Tale as Self
- 2010 · Godard Made in USA as Self
- 2010 · The Exorcist Locations: Georgetown Then and Now as Self
- 2010 · Raising Hell: Filming the Exorcist as Self
- 2009 · Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock as Self
- 2009 · The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style as Self
- 2009 · North by Northwest: One for the Ages as Self
- 2009 · Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman as Himself
- 2009 · Anatomy of a Chase as Self
- 2008 · Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock as Self
- 2008 · In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy as Self
- 2008 · Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock as Self
- 2008 · The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't as Self
- 2007 · Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange' as Self
- 2007 · View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining' as Self
- 2007 · The Visions of Stanley Kubrick as Self
- 2007 · Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001 as Self
- 2007 · Exorcising 'Cruising' as Self
- 2007 · The History of 'Cruising' as Self
- 2007 · Tatort Oper - Wie Filmemacher Oper machen as Self
- 2007 · The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo as Self
- 2006 · Shadows of Suspense as Self
- 2005 · Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy as
- 2004 · A Little Solitaire as Himself
- 2004 · Leçon de Cinéma as Self
- 2003 · Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.' as Himself
- 2003 · The Cutting Edge as Self
- 2003 · Pursuing “The Hunted” as Self
- 2003 · Filming “The Hunted” as Self
- 2003 · A Decade Under the Influence as Self
- 2002 · Through the Night with... as Self
- 2001 · Making the Connection: Untold Stories of The French Connection as Self
- 2000 · The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection' as Self
- 1998 · AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies as Self
- 1998 · The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist as Self - Director
- 1998 · Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy as Self
- 1997 · Hollywood Halloween as Himself
- 1997 · Howard Hawks: American Artist as Self
- 1991 · Fear in the Dark as Self
- 1989 · The Simpsons as Dr. Kenneth Humphries (voice)
- 1986 · Putting it Together: The Making of the Broadway Album as
- 1975 · Conversation with Fritz Lang as Self
- 1955 · Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Self
- 1953 · The Oscars as Self (archive footage)