R.I.P. William Friedkin: ‘The Exorcist’ Director Dead at 87

William Friedkin, the famed director of The Exorcist, has died. He was 87.

Variety reports that Friedkin died today in Los Angeles; his death was confirmed by Stephen Galloway, who is Dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and a friend of Friedkin’s wife, Sherry Lansing .

Friedkin was perhaps best known for 1973’s The Exorcist, but his 1971 film The French Connection was a critical hit before the horror sensation landed in theaters. The French Connection earned five Academy Awards, Best Director and Best Picture among them. Friedkin beat out some impressive competition to win the Best Director category at the 1972 ceremony, defeating Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange), Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) and Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof).

The win was only followed by bigger things for Friedkin, who soon adapted William Peter Blatty’s novel into The Exorcist. The director was tapped for the project only after Mike Nichols and Kubrick had passed on it, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While the infamous release had audience members terrified upon first watch, Friedkin said he “didn’t see it as a horror film; quite the opposite, I read it as transcendent, as Blatty had intended,” per THR.

The Exorcist went on to become one of the most successful films of all time, and spawned a number of sequels as well as a TV show. Following the unmatched reception of The Exorcist, Friedkin took a brief hiatus from filmmaking and did not release another movie until a few years later in 1977 with Sorcerer, which THR notes was his “personal favorite.”

While the film was less successful than The Exorcist, Friedkin continued to direct a steady stream of releases in the late 70s and 80s, including an episode of The Twilight Zone, as well as films like Cruising, To Live and Die in L.A. and The Guardian and a music video for Barbra Streisand.

Friedkin also released a series of projects in the ’90s and 2000s, working on Tales from the Crypt and Blue Chips, as well as Rules of Engagement and The Hunted.

He saw his biggest success of the 2000s with Killer Joe, a 2011 film starring Matthew McConaughey and Emile Hirsch which was dubbed a “cult classic” by THR.

Friedkin was previously married three times: to Kelly Lange, Lesley-Anne Down and Jeanne Moreau. He is survived by fourth wife, Lansing, and his two sons, per Variety.