William Friedkin was born on August 29 1935 in Chicago. He graduated from Senn High School in the Edgewater neighbourhood of Chicago. As a teenager he went to the movies often and became interested in the art form. After graduation, in 1953, he responded to an advertisement from a television station for someone to work in their mailroom. As it turned out, he went to the wrong station, WGN, who hired him to work in their mailroom. It was their that Fran Coughlin, writer and columnist, became his mentor. William Friedkin eventually became floor manager at WGN and then director of live television.
It was in 1962 that he directed his first television documentary, The People vs. Paul Crump. In the Sixties he directed more television documentaries: The Bold Men, Pro Football: Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon, and The Thin Blue Line. He also directed episodes of the documentary television series Time-Life Specials: The March of Time. In 1965 he directed an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "Off Season." The first feature film he directed, Good Times, was released in 1967. In the late Sixties he went onto direct the films The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), and The Boys in the Band (1970).
In the Seventies William Friedkin directed the movies The French Connection (1971), The Exorcist (1973), Sorcerer (1977), The Brink's Job (1978), and Cruising (1980). He also directed the documentary Conversation with Fritz Lang (1975). In the Eighties he directed the movies Deal of the Century (1983), To Live and Die in LA (1985), Rampage (1987), and The Guardian. He directed an episode of the revival of the television series The Twilight Zone, as well as music videos for such artists as Laura Branigan, Wang Chung, and Barbara Streisand. He directed the TV movies C.A.T. Squad and C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf.
In the Nineties he directed the feature films Blue Chips (1994), Jade (1995), and Rules of Engagement. He directed episodes of Tales from the Crypt and Rebel Highway, as well as the TV movie 12 Angry Men. In the Naughts he directed the movies The Hunted (2003) and Bug (2006). He directed the documentary short "The Painter's Voice" and two episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
In the Teens he directed the movie Killer Joe (2011) and the documentary The Devil and Father Amorth (2017). His final film, an adaptation of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.
William Friedkin also wrote much of what he directed, including the TV documentary The Thin Blue Line, the feature film Cruising, the feature film To Live and Die in LA, the feature film Rampage, the feature film The Guardian, and the documentary short "The Devil and Father Amorth." He had cameos in the Wang Chung video "To Live and Die in LA" and the movie Without Limits (1998). He was a guest voice on The Simpsons in 2017.
William Friedkin was an incredible director, with gift for visuals. Indeed, he sometimes took risks in his attempts to capture his creative vision. What is more, he treated genre films with the same seriousness that another director might treat a drama. In another director's hands The French Connection would have been a mere action film and The Exorcist a mere horror movie. In Mr. Friedkin's hands they were considerably more. While William Friedkin may be best known for The French Connection and The Exorcist, he was nothing if not versatile. Good Times was a comedy musical starring Sonny & Cher. The Night They Raided Minsky's was another musical comedy. He followed these films with The Boys in the Band, one of the first dramas to feature mostly gay characters. And while he is best known for his feature films, throughout his career, he directed documentaries throughout his career. In the end, William Friedkin was one of the greatest directors of the late 20th Century.
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