It is a disappearance that moviegoers around the world will mourn. As reported by our colleagues from BFM-TVWilliam “Billy” Friedkin is died Monday, August 7, 2023 at his home in Los Angeles. This is his wife Sherry Lansing, American actress, producer and studio head Sherry Lansingwho made the announcement to the American media hollywood reporter the same day. The director, screenwriter and producer was known for having notably directed French Connection (1971) and the exorcist (1974), classics of American cinema. Born in Chicago to a nurse mother and a football player father, the man was not predestined for such a career. He was, however, part of a generation of filmmakers greatly admired abroad. In his youth, he even rubbed shoulders with Alfred Hitchcockwhich, reports The Hollywood Reporterhad hired him in 1965 for an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour on NBC. The man would even have allowed himself to challenge his master with humor and a touch of insolence during an important ceremony.
William Friedkin, a director full of audacity
As our American colleagues always report hollywood reporter, the famous director of Birds would have reproached his disciple for not wearing a tie on set. Out of a taste for anti-conformism, William Friedkin would have pulled his bow tie the night he won the Directors Guild Award for French Connection (1971), challenging Hitchcock with these words: “How do you like the tie, Hitch?” A humor that said a lot about his freedom. On the private side, William Friedkin shared the life of Sherry Lansing since 1991. He had also been the second husband of Jeanne Moreau from 1977 to 1979. Although their marriage (whose proposal was reportedly made by the man in a nightclub in New York) did not last, each retained a great tenderness for the other. After the death of the actress, on July 31, 2017, in her Parisian home in the 8th arrondissement, William Friedkin had written on her account Twitter : “France has lost a national treasure, like all of us. His spirit will survive him forever.“There is no doubt that today these words are transposable to him.