William Friedkin

Born: August 29th, 1935
Where: Chicago, Illinois

Noted for the documentary quality of his dramas, Friedkin began his career in the mailroom of a local Chicago TV station and quickly worked his way up to director.

He had reportedly directed over 2,000 live shows before tackling his first TV film, the documentary The People vs. Paul Crump, designed to convince the governor of Illinois to abolish the death sentence of an inmate who had his confession beaten out of him by the Chicago police.

Although the film never aired on TV, it did accomplish its purpose, as well as winning the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival and paving the way for future documentary work for the filmmaker.

Friedkin followed this with his adaptation of Mart Crowley's Off-Broadway play about gay men The Boys In The Band.

Crowley, who also produced 'Boys,' had introduced Friedkin to Kitty Hawks, daughter of legendary filmmaker Howard Hawks, who advised the young director:

"People don't want stories about somebody's problems or any of that psychological s##t. What they want is action stories. Every time I made a film like that, with a lotta good guys against bad guys, it had a lotta success, if that matters to you."

The words stuck with Friedkin, and when Fox production president Richard D Zanuck told him he could make The French Connection, as long as he kept the price under $2 million, he jumped at the chance.

The budgetary restraints forced him to cast relative unknowns Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider, and the rest is movie history.

Friedkin instructed his cameraman to avoid traditional lighting and blocking and to film the events as if they were news reporters arriving at the scene of the crime.

The resulting documentary style was perfect for the gritty, urban drama, which catapulted him to the front rank of American directors.

Containing what was considered by many to be the most exciting chase sequence ever filmed, The French Connection garnered five Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hackman), Best Screenplay (Ernest Tidyman) and Best Editing (Jerry Greenberg).

His next movie, The Exorcist, will live in movie history forever.

Here, he created a new kind of horror film and earned himself a reputation as a bully on the set for such antics as slapping a priest and showing disregard for the safety of his actors, leading to a permanent back injury for star Ellen Burstyn.

Still, there was method to his madness, and the powerfully suggestive movie made over $100 million, and was accompanied by reports of moviegoers fainting, having fits and regurgitating their popcorn.

The film received ten Academy Award nominations including one for Friedkin as Best Director.