William Friedkin, who directed the classic movies The Exorcist and The French Connection, has died aged 87.
His wife, producer and former studio head Sherry Lansing, said he died in LA earlier today, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Oscar-winning director was seen as one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation and was part of the “New Hollywood” movement in cinema in the 1970s.
Friedkin was nominated for an Oscar for his 1973 supernatural horror film The Exorcist – one of the most iconic films in the history of cinema.
The film was based on William Peter Blatty’s best-selling novel about a 12-year-old girl possessed by the devil.
The harrowing scenes of the girl’s possession helped make it a box-office sensation.
It wasn’t unusual to hear of viewers who were so scared they fled the cinema before it was over and some reported being unable to sleep for days afterward.
It received 10 Oscar nominations, including one for Friedkin as director, and won two, for Blatty’s script and for sound.
Friedkin had already won a best director Oscar for the 1971 crime thriller The French Connection.
The film was based on a true story and follows the efforts of maverick New York City detective James “Popeye” Doyle as he tried to track down Frenchman Fernando Rey – the mastermind of a large drug pipeline funneling heroin into the United States.
It contains one of the most famous chase scenes ever filmed.
The movie also won Academy Awards for best picture, screenplay and film-editing.
It led critics to hail Friedkin, then just 32, as a leading member of a new generation of filmmakers.
Friedkin would go on to direct movies and TV shows well into the 21st century.
However, he would never again come close to matching the success of those early works.
Other film credits included To Live and Die in L.A, Cruising, Rules of Engagement. and a TV remake of the classic play and Sidney Lumet movie “12 Angry Men”.
Friedkin also directed episodes for such TV shows as The Twilight Zone, Rebel Highway and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
