WILLIAM PETER BLATTY

(7 January 1928 - 12 January 2017)

The writer, filmmaker and occasional actor William Peter Blatty will be forever associated with a single film, The Exorcist, which he produced and wrote from his own novel. In its day (1973), it was one of the most sensational productions to come out of Hollywood. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning two, including best adapted screenplay for Blatty. He also wrote and directed the sequel, The Exorcist III (1990), which was cut, so he re-filmed it in 2016. There was also a prequel, Exorcist: The Beginning, in 2004. Blatty had written books from 1959, including an autobiography of his time as an editor in Beirut, Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, then John Goldfarb Please Come Home (filmed in 1965), and The Ninth Configuration (also filmed in 1980 by Blatty). Meeting director Blake Edwards he wrote for A Shot in the Dark, What Did You Do In the War, Daddy?, Gunn and Darling Lili. Other films with Blatty scripts include The Man from the Diners’ Club with Danny Kaye and The Great Bank Robbery with Zero Mostel. He had four wives and five children. A TV series based on The Exorcist was aired in 2016.

MICHAEL DARVELL