His big-screen career launched with a slow burn with the late 1960s B-movies such as “Good Times” (1967), “The Birthday Party” (1968) and “The Night They Raided Minsky’s” (1968).Īs for the creation of the seminal Big Apple-set film that won him the Oscar, Friedkin spoke to The Post on the Gene Hackman film’s 50th anniversary in 2021. “I literally didn’t know the difference between right and wrong.”įriedkin began his directorial career in television with a 1965 episode of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and a few TV movies. All my friends lived the same way … The guys I hung with, like me, had no moral compass,” he wrote in his memoir “The Friedkin Connection” in 2014. ‘The French Connection’ turns 50: Hackman, Friedkin reveal why it’s a miracle no one diedįriedkin grew up poor on welfare - he said his dad never earned more than $50 per week in his whole life and died indigent - but Friedkin claimed he “never knew it. 29, 1935, Friedkin was the only child of a nurse he declared a “saint” and an often unemployed father who he once said “seemed to have no sense of purpose except day-to-day survival.” Both of his parents hailed from Jewish families that had fled Ukraine in the early 20th century. Linda Blair listens to instructions being given to her by director William Friedkin on the set of the 1973 film “The Exorcist.” Getty Images Linda Blair in a chilling scene from William Friedkin’s 1973 screen adaptation of “The Exorcist.” Corbis via Getty Imagesīorn in Chicago on Aug. Several of its members - which included Francis Ford Coppola and the late Peter Bogdanovich - joined forces to create The Directors Company in an attempt to retain their individualistic independence, but infighting quickly led to its dissolution not long after they had collectively turned down the George Lucas blockbuster “Star Wars” in 1976, according to the Hollywood Reporter. His most recent production is a remake of the Herman Wouk stage and screen drama “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” which stars Kiefer Sutherland and has been accepted into the 2023 Venice Film Festival.įriedkin was part of the acclaimed generation of ’70s filmmakers who virtually reinvented the traditional Hollywood studio system with rule-breaking, genre-defying projects that challenged the studio status quo. Getty Images for VF Actor Gene Hackman (second from left) and William Friedkin (far right) with their “French Connection” Oscars in 1972. “I was blessed, as I was in ‘The Exorcist,’ with a perfect cast.” Getty Images Filmmaker William Friedkin (left) and Sherry Lansing Foundation CEO Sherry Lansing attend the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar party hosted by Graydon Carter on Feb. “ created my own version of New York,” Friedkin told The Post of his silver-screen setting for the true crime story of NYPD narcotics detectives who busted a prolific heroin-smuggling ring. But I thought I had won it prematurely, that I hadn’t paid enough dues at that point.” Actor Gene Hackman (right) and director William Friedkin on the NYC set of “The French Connection” in 1971. “Winning the Academy Award was an enormous honor. I consider myself just another member of the crew, the highest paid member of the crew,” he once told the Los Angeles Times. “I never considered myself the great American anything. The legendary filmmaker’s passing was confirmed by his wife, former producer and Paramount Pictures studio head Sherry Lansing.įriedkin also helmed the groundbreaking gay-themed 1970 drama “The Boys in the Band,” as well as boundary-pushing films such as “Sorcerer” (1977), “Cruising” (1980), “To Live and Die in L.A.” (1985), “Rules of Engagement” (2000), “Bug” (2006) and “Killer Joe” (2011), among others.Īlthough his box office and critical acclaim was often hit or miss, his reputation as an auteur was undisputed in the industry. William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning director of 1970s cinematic classics “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection,” has died in Los Angeles. Pilot who survived Amazon jungle for 2 weeks dies in second plane crash NYC man killed ‘instantly’ when Peloton bike toppled over and severed neck artery: suit Swastika-wearing Australia man waving Nazi flag fatally shoots co-worker, takes own life during police standoff: report Rotting body of woman, 20, found inside NYC apartment during wellness check: cops
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