The author of “The Exorcist”, William Peter Blatty, is dead at age 89 – Franceinfo

“William Peter Blatty, dear friend and brother who created The Exorcist, passed away yesterday, Thursday, was tweeted by Mr. Friedkin. The wife of the novelist, Julie Alicia Witbrodt, told the Washington Post that her husband was suffering from multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood. The writer Stephen King, the pope of the horror novel, has paid tribute to Blatty on Twitter: “RIP William Peter Blatty, who wrote the biggest horror novel of our time. One of these days, old”Bill”.

William Blatty was born in New York on January 7, 1928, has acquired an international fame thanks to his novel “The Exorcist”, which tells the story of a little girl of 12 years old and possessed by a demon, that two priests attempt to exorcise. According to the publisher HarperCollins, the novel is inspired from real facts that occurred in the 1940s and has spent 57 weeks in the best seller list the New York Times, including 17 consecutive at the head. Poorly received by the critics, it has been sold 13 million copies in the United States and is considered one of the greatest novels of horror of all time.

The Exorcist : the trailer

Its adaptation on the big screen has been nominated for ten Oscars and won two in the final, including one for best screenplay for Blatty. She has won four Golden Globes, including best dramatic film, best director and best writer.

In 1990, Mr. Blatty wrote the screenplay and directed “The Exorcist, the sequel”, the third opus inspired by his book featuring a police officer who is investigating a series of murders. The son of lebanese immigrants raised in poverty in New York, he was a graduate of Georgetown university in the federal capital, Washington, and first earned his living by selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door. His career hand in all directions: it has been a specialist in psychological warfare in the US Air Force, director of public relations of Loyola university in Los Angeles and then a journalist before turning towards writing and film.

he is best known for “The Exorcist”, Blatty has written other novels and was rather specialized in the scenarios of comedy as “Promise her anything” (1965) with Warren Beatty, “What did you do in the war, daddy? (1966) or “The biggest hold-up” (1969). He has collaborated several times with director Blake Edwards, co-writing the sequel to the pink Panther When the inspector gets tangled” (1964) and “Darling Lili” with Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson.