R.I.P. William Friedkin, acclaimed director of The Exorcist and The French Connection

William Friedkin—the Oscar-winning director of such films as The Exorcist and The French Connection—has died. The news was confirmed by his wife, former producer Sherry Lansing, per The Hollywood Reporter. He was 87.

Friedkin was seen as one of the most influential and interesting filmmakers of his generation (most of whom were largely active around the 1970s). He stood out for his ability to elevate genre films and infuse a layer of “fear and paranoia, both old friends of mine,” into the proceedings, per his 2013 memoir The Friedkin Connection (via THR), that stuck with viewers for a long time after. As former The A.V. Club contributor Tom Breihan summed up in 2019, “The Exorcist is a terrifying, repellant, physically exhausting, expertly made movie, and its massive, overwhelming box office success is frankly baffling.”

While Friedkin’s early work included 1967's Sonny and Cher starring The Good Times and 1970's The Boys In The Band (which recently received a 2020 remake), it wasn’t until 1971 that he achieved his first mainstream, critical success with crime-thriller The French Connection—a film that AFI has since named one of the 100 Greatest American Movies Of All Time. Friedkin was named best director at the 1972 Oscars for his work on the film.

Not resting on his laurels, the director followed this effort up with perhaps his best-known and “most challenging” film: 1973's The Exorcist. Beyond spawning multiple sequels (including the upcoming reboot The Exorcist: Believer, currently set for October of this year) and a TV show—none of which Friedkin ever watched, according to The Guardian—Friedkin’s original adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel was a box office slam dunk in its own right, earning over $425 million worldwide on $12 million budget. The film was also the first—and still one of the only—horror film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Friedkin’s later credits include 1977's Sorcerer (his favorite of his films, according to The Guardian), 1980's Cruising, 1985's To Live And Die In L.A., 1987's Rampage, and 2006's Bug among many others. His last film was 2017's The Devil And Father Amorth, a documentary about a real-life exorcist in Italy.