William Peter Blatty, 'Exorcist' Author, Passes Away

William Peter Blatty, best known for writing The Exorcist and then adapting it for the big screen, has passed away. He was 89.

Filmmaker William Friedkin, who worked closely with Blatty on The Exorcist, shared the news on social media.

William Peter Blatty, dear friend and brother who created The Exorcist passed away yesterday

— William Friedkin (@WilliamFriedkin) January 13, 2017

While working in public relations in the 1950s, Blatty began writing on the side, publishing his first book in 1960. One year later, he won enough money on a television quiz show to quit his publicity job and devote himself to writing full-time. His early comic novels received critical praise, though they were not popular successes. He turned to writing comic screenplays, such as A Shot in the Dark, featuring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clousseau (below) and What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

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Inspired by a real-life case in the late 1940s, Blatty wrote The Exorcist, a tale about a young girl possessed by a powerful demon. Published in 1971, the book was an instant sensation, eventually selling more than 13 million copies. Blatty also wrote the screenplay, for which he won an Academy Award, and produced the movie, directed by William Friedkin.

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The movie was even more of a sensation than the novel, propelled as much by positive word of mouth about its excellent quality and high fright quotient as by outrageous tales of audience members fainting, vomiting and otherwise reacting viscerally to what they saw. Blatty’s career was never the same.

He continued writing and made his directorial debut with The Ninth Configuration, drawn from and expanded from one of his comic novels published in the 1960s. In 1983, he published Legion, a novel that was a sequel to The Exorcist. Eventually he made a film version, titled The Exorcist III against his wishes, which did not do well at the box office. A reconstructed “director’s cut” was assembled and released on home video a few months ago.

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