
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.
39 directing credits · 67 acting credits
Directing · 39

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962

The Twilight Zone
1985

Tales from the Crypt
1989

The Exorcist
1973

Rebel Highway
1994

12 Angry Men
1997

Sorcerer
1977

The French Connection
1971

The Hunted
2003

Cruising
1980

Killer Joe
2012

To Live and Die in L.A.
1985

Jade
1995

Rules of Engagement
2000

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
2023

Bug
2007

Blue Chips
1994

Rampage
1987

Deal of the Century
1983

The Guardian
1990

The Brink's Job
1978

The Boys in the Band
1970

The Night They Raided Minsky's
1968

Jailbreakers
1994

Henri Langlois vu par...
2014

Good Times
1967

The Devil and Father Amorth
2018

The Birthday Party
1968

C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf
1988

C.A.T. Squad
1986
The Pickle Brothers
1967

Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album
1986

The Thin Blue Line
1966

The Bold Men
1965

Conversation with Fritz Lang
1975

The Painter's Voice
2007

The People vs. Paul Crump
1962

Pro Football: Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon
1965
Acting · 67

The Simpsons
1989

100 Years of Warner Bros.
2023

Through the Night with...
2002

Leçon de Cinéma
2004

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
2014

The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't
2008

Without Limits
1998

Friedkin Uncut
2018

A Decade Under the Influence
2003

Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck
2013

Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist
2019

Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot
2013

The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo
2007

I Am Alfred Hitchcock
2021

Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock
2008

The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz
2013

The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist
1998

The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
2009

Godard Made in USA
2010

Exorcising 'Cruising'
2007

Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.'
2003
Stanley Kubrick in Focus
2012

Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001
2007

Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange'
2007

In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy
2008

Henri Langlois vu par...
2014

A Fuller Life
2013

Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
2005

Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock
2008
Tatort Oper - Wie Filmemacher Oper machen
2007

Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001
2007

The Devil and Father Amorth
2018
Filming “The Hunted”
2003

Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman
2009

The History of 'Cruising'
2007

View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining'
2007
The Cutting Edge
2003

North by Northwest: One for the Ages
2009

Fellini of the Spirits
2020

The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection'
2000

Sorcerers: A Conversation with William Friedkin and Nicolas Winding Refn
2015

Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of
2012

Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
1998
Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock
2009

Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist
2024

Making the Connection: Untold Stories of The French Connection
2001

Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album
1986

Making the Boys
2011

Algren
2021

Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic
2012

The Exorcist Locations: Georgetown Then and Now
2010

Hollywood Halloween
1997

The Visions of Stanley Kubrick
2007

Fear in the Dark
1991
Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders
2026
Pursuing “The Hunted”
2003

Miller's Tale
2011
The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons
2022
Oscars, Actors and The Exorcist
1974
Howard Hawks: American Artist
1997

Raising Hell: Filming the Exorcist
2010

Shadows of Suspense
2006

Conversation with Fritz Lang
1975

Anatomy of a Chase
2009

Narc: The Friedkin Connection
2003
A Little Solitaire
2004
Return to the Genre
2016