‘Exorcist’ director William Friedkin dies at 87

William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of The Exorcist and The French Connection, has died at the age of 87.

The film-maker died in Los Angeles, confirmed by Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of his wife and former producer Sherry Lansing.

The cause was heart failure and pneumonia, said his wife, Sherry Lansing, the former head of Paramount Pictures in Hollywood.

William Friedkin, a filmmaker whose gritty, visceral style and fascination with characters on the edge helped make “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist” two of the biggest box-office hits of the 1970s, died on Monday at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.

He was set to have what is now his final film, “The Caine Mutiny Court Marshal”, premiere at this year's Venice Film Festival.