The Exorcist director William Friedkin dies aged 87
- The filmmaker burst on the scene in the early ’70s with cop drama The French Connection, which won five Oscars including for best director and best picture
- He went on to become one of a crop of influential young ‘New Hollywood’ directors who fundamentally reshaped the US film industry
William Friedkin, the groundbreaking US director of The Exorcist and The French Connection, died on Monday, a family friend said. He was 87.
Friedkin died in Los Angeles after suffering unspecified health issues in recent years, said Stephen Galloway, a former Hollywood Reporter executive editor.
“He died this morning,” confirmed Galloway, after speaking with Friedkin’s wife.
Friedkin had “been working until a few weeks ago”, but “had been in declining health”, he added.
Friedkin was among a crop of influential young “New Hollywood” directors who fundamentally reshaped the US film industry, upsetting a long-established system in which powerful studio producers had reigned supreme.
Alongside fellow auteurs such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, Friedkin exploded onto the scene in the early 1970s, with gritty cop drama The French Connection.
