Famed ‘Exorcist’ director William Friedkin dies at 87 Transcript

And a passing to note tonight. Oscar winning director, William Friedkin, the man behind the gritty ’70s classic, The French Connection and The Exorcist, has died. ABC’s Matt Gutman looks back at the mark he made on the movies.

They were the box office hits that made William Friedkin one of the most sought after directors in Hollywood in the 1970s and redefined their genres. The Exorcist, which made horror big business, and The French connection. Friedkin, the once documentarian, bringing gritty realism to a lowish budget film starring relative unknowns, Roy Scheider and Gene Hackman. That death-defying car chase, often called one of the best in film history, was a scene made possible, Friedkin later told the Academy, by bribing a New York City Transit official.

The guy said, “$40,000 and a one-way ticket to Jamaica.”

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And I asked him, “Why a one-way ticket?”

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And he said, “Because if I let you do what you just told me on that train, I will be fired.”

The winner is William Friedkin.

The French Connection, winning five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Friedkin. A year later, Friedkin, terrifying audiences with The Exorcist, starring Linda Blair as a 12-year-old possessed by demons. Fans lined up for hours in the cold theaters, sold out of tickets. And The Exorcist became one of the top grossing movies ever, about 1.3 billion in today’s dollars.

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William Friedkin was 87. He had said of himself, “I don’t see myself as a pioneer. I see myself as a working guy, and that is all.” And he lived up to that motto, working until the very end. His new movie, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, premieres this month. Mary.

Matt, thank you.