William Friedkin
Known for: Directing
Born: August 29, 1935
Died: August 7, 2023
Place of birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
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.
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Filmography
96 movies · 9 TV shows, newest first
NR
Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders
2026
NR
Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist
2024
6.7
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
2023
7.6
100 Years of Warner Bros.
2023NR
The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons
2022
6.0
Algren
2021
7.3
I Am Alfred Hitchcock
2021
6.6
Fellini of the Spirits
2020
7.4
Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist
2019
7.1
Friedkin Uncut
2018NR
Stringman: The Jack Nitzsche Story
2018
5.1
The Devil and Father Amorth
2018NR
Return to the Genre
2016
4.5
Sorcerers: A Conversation with William Friedkin and Nicolas Winding Refn
2015
NR
Verdi Aida
2015
6.5
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
2014
5.0
Henri Langlois vu par...
2014
10.0
The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz
2013
6.6
A Fuller Life
2013
6.3
Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck
2013
6.8
Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot
20135.3
Stanley Kubrick in Focus
2012
6.5
Killer Joe
2012
6.5
Casablanca: An Unlikely Classic
2012
6.7
Michael Curtiz: The Greatest Director You Never Heard Of
2012
4.7
Making the Boys
2011
7.1
Miller's Tale
2011
NR
Godard Made in USA
2010
NR
The Exorcist Locations: Georgetown Then and Now
2010
6.0
Raising Hell: Filming the Exorcist
2010NR
Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock
2009
6.8
The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
2009
6.8
North by Northwest: One for the Ages
2009
7.5
Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman
2009
4.0
Anatomy of a Chase
2009
NR
Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock
2008
NR
Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock
2008
6.8
In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy
2008
7.2
The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't
2008
6.1
Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making 'A Clockwork Orange'
2007
6.9
The Visions of Stanley Kubrick
2007
7.4
View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining'
2007
6.0
Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001
2007
6.2
Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001
2007
7.7
The History of 'Cruising'
2007
6.5
Exorcising 'Cruising'
2007NR
Tatort Oper - Wie Filmemacher Oper machen
2007
NR
The Painter's Voice
2007
6.1
Bug
2007
6.0
The Man Who Shot Chinatown: The Life and Work of John A. Alonzo
2007
NR
Shadows of Suspense
2006
9.3
Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy
2005NR
A Little Solitaire
2004
7.0
Leçon de Cinéma
2004
7.7
Counterfeit World: Making 'To Live and Die in L.A.'
2003NR
Filming “The Hunted”
2003NR
Pursuing “The Hunted”
2003NR
The Cutting Edge
2003
9.0
Narc: The Friedkin Connection
2003
7.9
A Decade Under the Influence
2003
6.2
The Hunted
2003
7.9
Through the Night with...
2002
7.0
Making the Connection: Untold Stories of The French Connection
2001
7.6
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000
6.2
Rules of Engagement
2000
7.9
The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection'
2000
6.6
Without Limits
1998
7.4
The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist
1998
6.0
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
1998
7.7
12 Angry Men
19976.2
Howard Hawks: American Artist
1997
8.0
Hollywood Halloween
1997
5.5
Jade
1995
5.6
Jailbreakers
1994
8.0
Rebel Highway
1994
6.1
Blue Chips
1994
9.0
Fear in the Dark
1991
5.7
The Guardian
1990
8.0
The Simpsons
1989
8.0
Tales from the Crypt
1989
5.5
C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf
1988
5.9
Rampage
1987
5.0
C.A.T. Squad
1986
9.0
Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album
1986
7.1
To Live and Die in L.A.
1985
7.7
The Twilight Zone
1985
4.6
Deal of the Century
1983
6.6
Cruising
1980
6.2
The Brink's Job
1978
7.5
Sorcerer
1977
7.1
Conversation with Fritz Lang
1975NR
Oscars, Actors and The Exorcist
1974
7.7
The Exorcist
1973
7.5
The French Connection
1971
7.0
The Boys in the Band
1970
5.5
The Night They Raided Minsky's
1968
6.5
The Birthday Party
1968
5.2
Good Times
1967NR
The Pickle Brothers
1967
NR
Muggins
1967
NR
The Thin Blue Line
1966
NR
Pro Football: Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon
1965
NR
The Bold Men
1965
7.9
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
9.0
The People vs. Paul Crump
1962