William Peter Blatty
Encyclopedia
William Peter Blatty is an American
writer
and filmmaker. The novel
The Exorcist
, written in 1971, is his magnum opus
; he also penned the subsequent screenplay version
of the film, for which he won an Academy Award.
His most recent works include the novels Elsewhere
(2009), Dimiter
(2010) and Crazy
(2010). He is also featured in the upcoming 2011 Smoke And Mirrors anthology, featuring the teleplay "Hell Hospital" and the treatment "Faith".
, the son of Lebanese
parents who came to America on a cattle boat, Mary (née
Mouakad) and Peter Blatty, a cloth cutter in a garment factory. His father left home when William was three years old. Raised in what he described as "comfortable destitution" by his deeply religious Catholic
mother, whose sole support came from peddling homemade quince jelly in the streets of New York (his mother once offered a jar of it to FDR when the President was cutting the ribbon for the Queens Midtown Tunnel
, telling him, "For when you have company"), he lived at twenty-eight different addresses during his childhood due to constant evictions by landlords for non-payment of rent. He attended Brooklyn Preparatory
, a Jesuit school, on scholarship at a time when Joe Paterno
was the football team's quarterback, graduated as class valedictorian in 1946, and then attended Georgetown University
on a scholarship. He went on to The George Washington University for his Master's degree in English Literature, for which he wrote a completely original thesis on the topic, "T.S. Eliot's Shakespearean Criticisms" (in which Blatty concluded that Eliot was "secretly jealous" of Shakespeare because the latter, unlike Eliot, was an "unconscious artist" who "wrote inspirationally as easily as he breathed.") Between 1950 and 1952, he variously worked as a door-to-door salesman for the Electrolux
Vacuum cleaner company, as a Gunther Beer
truck relief driver, where he achieved a certain fame for burning out three truck clutch
es in six weeks, and as a ticket agent for United Airlines, all before escaping into the United States Air Force, where he ultimately became head of the Policy Branch of the USAF Psychological Warfare Division
, about which he would write in his humorous autobiography, Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, that his "principal achievement" was in formulating the principle that "a 500-pound sack of propaganda leaflets, if dropped from an altitude of 13,000 feet and provided it scored a direct hit, would drive one North Korean soldier approximately four feet into the ground." Mustering out of the Air Force, he joined the United States Information Agency
and worked as an editor stationed in Beirut, Lebanon. He had determined to return to Beirut after his three-month "home leave", but when a co-editor asked him in the kitchen of his Beirut apartment during the course of a farewell party, "Bill, what happened to the dream?" he changed his mind. The "dream" was a career in the world of acting, publishing and entertainment.
and as the Director of Publicity at the University of Southern California
. Blatty later wrote an article published in the Saturday Evening Post about meeting movie stars in Hollywood while posing as "Prince Xeer", a fictitious blacksheep son of King Saud of Saudi Arabia. To promote his first book, Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, Blatty was a contestant on the Groucho Marx quiz show
You Bet Your Life
, winning $10,000: enough money to enable him to quit his job and write full-time.
In 1960, Blatty published Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, which dealt humorously with both his early life and his work at the United States Information Agency in Lebanon
. He then published the comic novels John Goldfarb, Please Come Home
(1963), I, Billy Shakespeare (1965), and Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane (1966). Though he achieved great critical success with these books — Marvin Levin in the New York Times, for example, led off a review with "Nobody can write funnier lines than William Peter Blatty, a gifted virtuoso who writes like (S.J.) Perelman", sales and commercial acceptance were lacking.
It was at this point that Blatty began a fruitful collaboration with director Blake Edwards
, writing scripts for comedy films such as A Shot in the Dark
(1964), What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
(1966), Gunn
(1967), and Darling Lili
(1970), a musical starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson. Without Edwards, Blatty also worked on comedy screenplays as "Bill Blatty", two such credits being the Danny Kaye
film The Man from the Diner's Club
(1963) and the Warren Beatty
-Leslie Caron
film "Promise Her Anything
" (1965). Others were the film adaptation of John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965), and The Great Bank Robbery
(1969).
Later Blatty resumed novel writing. Allegedly retiring to a remote and rented chalet in woodland off Lake Tahoe
, Blatty wrote The Exorcist
, a story about a twelve-year-old girl being possessed by a powerful demon, that remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 57 straight weeks and at the Number One spot for 17 of them. It would eventually be translated by himself and director William Friedkin
into one of the most famous and controversial mainstream horror movies
of all time. According to Blatty, Friedkin edited the film in a New York Fifth Avenue office building with the number 666
. Blatty would go on to win an Academy Award for his Exorcist screenplay, as well as Golden Globes for Best Picture (he produced the film) and Best Writing. He has made the claim that in its first weeks of publication, The Exorcist novel, despite excellent reviews and much advertising by the publisher, Harper and Row, was deemed a failure and was being returned by bookstores by "the carload" until what he calls "an extraordinary intervention by Fate" which he refuses to describe. (On 29 October, 2011, in an interview on NPR in honor of the 40th anniversary of the novel, Blatty revealed that it was an 'emergency' appearance as a guest on the Dick Cavett show that spurred sales, driving it, in fact, to several weeks at number one on best-seller lists.)
In 1978, Blatty re-hashed his novel Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane! into the retitled The Ninth Configuration
; and in 1980 he wrote, directed, and produced a film version. A meditation on God's existence described by one critic as "The Marx Brothers
Meets Spellbound
" and greeted as a "masterpiece" by The Cincinnati Post and "the finest large-scale American surrealist film ever made" by Peter Travers in People magazine, the film, nevertheless, was a commercial flop. It has since acquired a rather sizable cult following
. In 1981 it was nominated for three Golden Globes, among them Best Picture, and won the Best Writing Award against competition that included The Elephant Man
(1980), Ordinary People
(1980), and Raging Bull (1980).
In 1983, he wrote a novel called Legion
, a sequel to The Exorcist which later became the basis of the film The Exorcist III
. Blatty originally wanted the movie version to be titled Legion but the film producers wanted it to be more closely linked to the original. The first sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic
(1977) was disappointing both critically and commercially. Blatty had no involvement in this first sequel and his own follow-up ignored it entirely.
Blatty's autobiography is titled I'll Tell Them I Remember You (1974). A short critical essay on Blatty's work can be found in S. T. Joshi
's book The Modern Weird Tale: A Critique of Horror Fiction (2001). Essays studying all Blatty's novels can be found in Benjamin Szumskyj's American Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty
(McFarland
, 2008).
Blatty's latest works are the novels Elsewhere
(2009), Dimiter
(2010) and Crazy
(2010). He is also set to be featured in the upcoming 2011 Smoke And Mirrors anthology, featuring the teleplay "Hell Hospital" and the treatment "Faith". According to Blatty, in his June 30 interview with "Authors on Tour", director William Friedkin
has also set out to make Dimiter
a feature film, marking their first collaboration in almost 40 years.
On September 27, 2011, The Exorcist will be re-released as a 40th Anniversary Edition in paperback, hardcover and audiobook editions with differing cover artwork. This new, updated edition is set to feature new and revised material: "The 40th Anniversary Edition of The Exorcist will have a touch of new material in it as part of an all-around polish of the dialogue and prose. First time around I never had the time (meaning the funds) to do a second draft, and this, finally, is it. With forty years to think about it, a few little changes were inevitable -- plus one new character in a totally new very spooky scene. This is the version I would like to be remembered for."
Sarrantonio's 999: New Stories Of Horror And Suspense
anthology.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and filmmaker. The novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Exorcist
The Exorcist
The Exorcist is a novel of supernatural suspense by William Peter Blatty, published by Harper & Row in 1971. It was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University, a Jesuit school...
, written in 1971, is his magnum opus
Magnum opus
Magnum opus , from the Latin meaning "great work", refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of a writer, artist, or composer.-Related terms:Sometimes the term magnum opus is used to refer to simply "a great work" rather than "the...
; he also penned the subsequent screenplay version
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
of the film, for which he won an Academy Award.
His most recent works include the novels Elsewhere
Elsewhere (2009 novel)
Elsewhere is a novel by William Peter Blatty, released on May 15, 2009 through Cemetery Dance Publications. It was originally published as a novella in 1999 in Al Sarrantonio's 999: New Stories Of Horror And Suspense anthology....
(2009), Dimiter
Dimiter
Dimiter is a novel by William Peter Blatty, released on March 16, 2010 through Forge Books...
(2010) and Crazy
Crazy (2010 novel)
Crazy is novel by William Peter Blatty, released in November, 2010 through Forge Books.As with Blatty's previous release, Dimiter, Crazy is available in both hardcover and audiobook formats.-External links:**...
(2010). He is also featured in the upcoming 2011 Smoke And Mirrors anthology, featuring the teleplay "Hell Hospital" and the treatment "Faith".
Early life
Blatty was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the son of Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
parents who came to America on a cattle boat, Mary (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Mouakad) and Peter Blatty, a cloth cutter in a garment factory. His father left home when William was three years old. Raised in what he described as "comfortable destitution" by his deeply religious Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
mother, whose sole support came from peddling homemade quince jelly in the streets of New York (his mother once offered a jar of it to FDR when the President was cutting the ribbon for the Queens Midtown Tunnel
Queens Midtown Tunnel
The Queens–Midtown Tunnel is a highway tunnel and toll road in New York City. It crosses under the East River and connects the Borough of Queens on Long Island with the Borough of Manhattan The Queens–Midtown Tunnel (sometimes simply known as the Midtown Tunnel) is a highway tunnel and toll road...
, telling him, "For when you have company"), he lived at twenty-eight different addresses during his childhood due to constant evictions by landlords for non-payment of rent. He attended Brooklyn Preparatory
Brooklyn Preparatory School
-History:Brooklyn Prep was a highly selective Jesuit preparatory school founded by the Society of Jesus in 1908. The school educated generations of young men from throughout New York City and Long Island until its untimely closure in 1972.The Prep was located on 1150 Carroll Street in the Crown...
, a Jesuit school, on scholarship at a time when Joe Paterno
Joe Paterno
Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno is a former college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 46 years from 1966 through 2011. Paterno, nicknamed "JoePa," holds the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football coach with...
was the football team's quarterback, graduated as class valedictorian in 1946, and then attended Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
on a scholarship. He went on to The George Washington University for his Master's degree in English Literature, for which he wrote a completely original thesis on the topic, "T.S. Eliot's Shakespearean Criticisms" (in which Blatty concluded that Eliot was "secretly jealous" of Shakespeare because the latter, unlike Eliot, was an "unconscious artist" who "wrote inspirationally as easily as he breathed.") Between 1950 and 1952, he variously worked as a door-to-door salesman for the Electrolux
Electrolux
The Electrolux Group is a Swedish appliance maker.As of 2010 the 2nd largest home appliance manufacturer in the world after Whirlpool, its products sell under a variety of brand names including its own and are primarily major appliances and vacuum cleaners...
Vacuum cleaner company, as a Gunther Beer
Gunther Brewing Company
Gunther Brewing Company is a historic brewery building located at Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The site comprises 15 masonry buildings. The main structure is a five story brick "L"-shaped Romanesque Revival-style brew house with a two-story brick ice plant built about 1910 and one- and...
truck relief driver, where he achieved a certain fame for burning out three truck clutch
Clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device which provides for the transmission of power from one component to another...
es in six weeks, and as a ticket agent for United Airlines, all before escaping into the United States Air Force, where he ultimately became head of the Policy Branch of the USAF Psychological Warfare Division
Psychological Warfare Division
The Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF was a joint Anglo-American organisation set-up in World War II tasked with conducting principally 'white' tactical psychological warfare against German troops in North-west Europe during and after D-Day. It was headed by US Brigadier-General Robert A...
, about which he would write in his humorous autobiography, Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, that his "principal achievement" was in formulating the principle that "a 500-pound sack of propaganda leaflets, if dropped from an altitude of 13,000 feet and provided it scored a direct hit, would drive one North Korean soldier approximately four feet into the ground." Mustering out of the Air Force, he joined the United States Information Agency
United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency , which existed from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, USIA's broadcasting functions were moved to the newly created Broadcasting Board of Governors, and its exchange and non-broadcasting information functions were...
and worked as an editor stationed in Beirut, Lebanon. He had determined to return to Beirut after his three-month "home leave", but when a co-editor asked him in the kitchen of his Beirut apartment during the course of a farewell party, "Bill, what happened to the dream?" he changed his mind. The "dream" was a career in the world of acting, publishing and entertainment.
Career
In the 1950s, Blatty worked as the public relations director at Loyola University of Los AngelesLoyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive co-educational private Roman Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions located in Los Angeles, California, United States...
and as the Director of Publicity at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. Blatty later wrote an article published in the Saturday Evening Post about meeting movie stars in Hollywood while posing as "Prince Xeer", a fictitious blacksheep son of King Saud of Saudi Arabia. To promote his first book, Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, Blatty was a contestant on the Groucho Marx quiz show
Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...
You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September...
, winning $10,000: enough money to enable him to quit his job and write full-time.
In 1960, Blatty published Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, which dealt humorously with both his early life and his work at the United States Information Agency in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. He then published the comic novels John Goldfarb, Please Come Home
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home is a 1963 novel by William Peter Blatty that was adapted as a film by the same title, released in 1965.-Synopsis:...
(1963), I, Billy Shakespeare (1965), and Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane (1966). Though he achieved great critical success with these books — Marvin Levin in the New York Times, for example, led off a review with "Nobody can write funnier lines than William Peter Blatty, a gifted virtuoso who writes like (S.J.) Perelman", sales and commercial acceptance were lacking.
It was at this point that Blatty began a fruitful collaboration with director Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
, writing scripts for comedy films such as A Shot in the Dark
A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)
A Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and is the second installment in the Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers is featured again as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté...
(1964), What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? is a 1966 comedy film written by William Peter Blatty and directed by Blake Edwards. It stars James Coburn and Dick Shawn.-Plot:...
(1966), Gunn
Gunn (film)
Gunn is an American 1967 mystery film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Craig Stevens. It featured the same lead character from the 1958-1961 television series Peter Gunn, and a Henry Mancini score but the characters of Gunn's singing girlfriend Edie Hart and Police Lieutenant Jacoby were...
(1967), and Darling Lili
Darling Lili
Darling Lili is a 1970 American musical film. The screenplay was written by William Peter Blatty and Blake Edwards, who also directed. The cast included Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, and Jeremy Kemp.-Plot:...
(1970), a musical starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson. Without Edwards, Blatty also worked on comedy screenplays as "Bill Blatty", two such credits being the Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
film The Man from the Diner's Club
The Man from the Diner's Club
The Man from the Diner's Club is a 1963 comedy film made by Ampersand and Dena Productions and released by Columbia Pictures.-Production:...
(1963) and the Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
-Leslie Caron
Leslie Caron
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006, her performance in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series...
film "Promise Her Anything
Promise Her Anything
Promise Her Anything is a 1965 British romantic comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay by William Peter Blatty is based on a story by Arne Sultan and Marvin Worth.-Plot:...
" (1965). Others were the film adaptation of John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965), and The Great Bank Robbery
The Great Bank Robbery
The Great Bank Robbery is a 1969 Western comedy film from Warner Brothers directed by Hy Averback and written by William Peter Blatty, based on the novel by Frank O'Rourke...
(1969).
Later Blatty resumed novel writing. Allegedly retiring to a remote and rented chalet in woodland off Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
, Blatty wrote The Exorcist
The Exorcist
The Exorcist is a novel of supernatural suspense by William Peter Blatty, published by Harper & Row in 1971. It was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University, a Jesuit school...
, a story about a twelve-year-old girl being possessed by a powerful demon, that remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 57 straight weeks and at the Number One spot for 17 of them. It would eventually be translated by himself and director William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
into one of the most famous and controversial mainstream horror movies
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
of all time. According to Blatty, Friedkin edited the film in a New York Fifth Avenue office building with the number 666
666
Year 666 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 666 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Chertsey Abbey is founded.* Barking Abbey...
. Blatty would go on to win an Academy Award for his Exorcist screenplay, as well as Golden Globes for Best Picture (he produced the film) and Best Writing. He has made the claim that in its first weeks of publication, The Exorcist novel, despite excellent reviews and much advertising by the publisher, Harper and Row, was deemed a failure and was being returned by bookstores by "the carload" until what he calls "an extraordinary intervention by Fate" which he refuses to describe. (On 29 October, 2011, in an interview on NPR in honor of the 40th anniversary of the novel, Blatty revealed that it was an 'emergency' appearance as a guest on the Dick Cavett show that spurred sales, driving it, in fact, to several weeks at number one on best-seller lists.)
In 1978, Blatty re-hashed his novel Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane! into the retitled The Ninth Configuration
The Ninth Configuration
The Ninth Configuration, is an American-made film, released in 1980, directed by William Peter Blatty...
; and in 1980 he wrote, directed, and produced a film version. A meditation on God's existence described by one critic as "The Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
Meets Spellbound
Spellbound (1945 film)
Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation by Angus...
" and greeted as a "masterpiece" by The Cincinnati Post and "the finest large-scale American surrealist film ever made" by Peter Travers in People magazine, the film, nevertheless, was a commercial flop. It has since acquired a rather sizable cult following
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
. In 1981 it was nominated for three Golden Globes, among them Best Picture, and won the Best Writing Award against competition that included The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man (film)
The Elephant Man is a 1980 American drama film based on the true story of Joseph Merrick , a severely deformed man in 19th century London...
(1980), Ordinary People
Ordinary People
Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton....
(1980), and Raging Bull (1980).
In 1983, he wrote a novel called Legion
Legion (novel)
Legion is a 1983 horror novel by William Peter Blatty, a sequel to The Exorcist. It was made into the movie The Exorcist III in 1990.Like The Exorcist, it involves demonic possession...
, a sequel to The Exorcist which later became the basis of the film The Exorcist III
The Exorcist III
The Exorcist III is a 1990 American supernatural thriller written and directed by William Peter Blatty. It is the second sequel of The Exorcist series and a film adaptation of Blatty's novel, Legion . The film stars George C. Scott, Brad Dourif, Ed Flanders, and Nicol Williamson...
. Blatty originally wanted the movie version to be titled Legion but the film producers wanted it to be more closely linked to the original. The first sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist II: The Heretic is a 1977 American horror film and the sequel to The Exorcist , directed by John Boorman from a screenplay by William Goodhart and starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, James Earl Jones, Ned Beatty and Kitty Winn...
(1977) was disappointing both critically and commercially. Blatty had no involvement in this first sequel and his own follow-up ignored it entirely.
Blatty's autobiography is titled I'll Tell Them I Remember You (1974). A short critical essay on Blatty's work can be found in S. T. Joshi
S. T. Joshi
Sunand Tryambak Joshi — known as S. T. Joshi — is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, novelist, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction...
's book The Modern Weird Tale: A Critique of Horror Fiction (2001). Essays studying all Blatty's novels can be found in Benjamin Szumskyj's American Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty
American Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty
American Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty is a collection of essays studying all of William Peter Blatty's novels, from Which Way To Mecca, Jack? to Elsewhere .-Contents:...
(McFarland
McFarland & Company
McFarland & Company, Inc. is a book publisher of primarily academic and adult nonfiction based in Jefferson, North Carolina. Its president and editor-in-chief is Robert Franklin, who began the enterprise in 1979...
, 2008).
Blatty's latest works are the novels Elsewhere
Elsewhere (2009 novel)
Elsewhere is a novel by William Peter Blatty, released on May 15, 2009 through Cemetery Dance Publications. It was originally published as a novella in 1999 in Al Sarrantonio's 999: New Stories Of Horror And Suspense anthology....
(2009), Dimiter
Dimiter
Dimiter is a novel by William Peter Blatty, released on March 16, 2010 through Forge Books...
(2010) and Crazy
Crazy (2010 novel)
Crazy is novel by William Peter Blatty, released in November, 2010 through Forge Books.As with Blatty's previous release, Dimiter, Crazy is available in both hardcover and audiobook formats.-External links:**...
(2010). He is also set to be featured in the upcoming 2011 Smoke And Mirrors anthology, featuring the teleplay "Hell Hospital" and the treatment "Faith". According to Blatty, in his June 30 interview with "Authors on Tour", director William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
has also set out to make Dimiter
Dimiter
Dimiter is a novel by William Peter Blatty, released on March 16, 2010 through Forge Books...
a feature film, marking their first collaboration in almost 40 years.
On September 27, 2011, The Exorcist will be re-released as a 40th Anniversary Edition in paperback, hardcover and audiobook editions with differing cover artwork. This new, updated edition is set to feature new and revised material: "The 40th Anniversary Edition of The Exorcist will have a touch of new material in it as part of an all-around polish of the dialogue and prose. First time around I never had the time (meaning the funds) to do a second draft, and this, finally, is it. With forty years to think about it, a few little changes were inevitable -- plus one new character in a totally new very spooky scene. This is the version I would like to be remembered for."
Awards
Awards include:- The Commonwealth Club Silver Medal for Literature ("The Exorcist")
- The Gabriel Award and American Film Festival Blue Ribbon for Blatty's "Insight" series TV episode, "Watts Made Out of Thread?"
- Saturn Awards for "The Exorcist" and for "The Ninth Configuration"
- The People's Choice Award for the Oscars" - Best Picture Award for "The Exorcist"
- The Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award.
Novels
- Which Way to Mecca, Jack? (1959)
- John Goldfarb, Please Come HomeJohn Goldfarb, Please Come HomeJohn Goldfarb, Please Come Home is a 1963 novel by William Peter Blatty that was adapted as a film by the same title, released in 1965.-Synopsis:...
(1963) - I, Billy Shakespeare! 1965
- Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" KaneThe Ninth ConfigurationThe Ninth Configuration, is an American-made film, released in 1980, directed by William Peter Blatty...
(1966) - The ExorcistThe ExorcistThe Exorcist is a novel of supernatural suspense by William Peter Blatty, published by Harper & Row in 1971. It was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University, a Jesuit school...
(1971) - The Ninth ConfigurationThe Ninth ConfigurationThe Ninth Configuration, is an American-made film, released in 1980, directed by William Peter Blatty...
(1978) - LegionLegion (novel)Legion is a 1983 horror novel by William Peter Blatty, a sequel to The Exorcist. It was made into the movie The Exorcist III in 1990.Like The Exorcist, it involves demonic possession...
(1983) - Demons Five, Exorcists Nothing: A Fable (1996)
- ElsewhereElsewhere (2009 novel)Elsewhere is a novel by William Peter Blatty, released on May 15, 2009 through Cemetery Dance Publications. It was originally published as a novella in 1999 in Al Sarrantonio's 999: New Stories Of Horror And Suspense anthology....
(2009) - Originally published as a novella in 1999 in Al
Sarrantonio's 999: New Stories Of Horror And Suspense
999 (anthology)
999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense is a collection of short stories and novellas published in 1999 and edited by Al Sarrantonio. The title is a contraction of the year as well as 666 upside-down. All twenty-nine stories had never been published before...
anthology.
- DimiterDimiterDimiter is a novel by William Peter Blatty, released on March 16, 2010 through Forge Books...
(2010) - CrazyCrazy (2010 novel)Crazy is novel by William Peter Blatty, released in November, 2010 through Forge Books.As with Blatty's previous release, Dimiter, Crazy is available in both hardcover and audiobook formats.-External links:**...
(2010) - Smoke And Mirrors (2011) - Anthology; featuring the teleplay "Hell Hospital" and the treatment "Faith".
Nonfiction
- William Peter Blatty on 'The Exorcist': From Novel to Screen (1974)
- If There Were Demons Then Perhaps There Were Angels: William Peter Blatty's Own Story of the Exorcist (1978)
Screenplays
- The Man From the Diner's Club (1963)
- A Shot in the DarkA Shot in the Dark (1964 film)A Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and is the second installment in the Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers is featured again as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté...
(1964 - co-screenplay) - John Goldfarb, Please Come HomeJohn Goldfarb, Please Come HomeJohn Goldfarb, Please Come Home is a 1963 novel by William Peter Blatty that was adapted as a film by the same title, released in 1965.-Synopsis:...
(1965) - Promise Her AnythingPromise Her AnythingPromise Her Anything is a 1965 British romantic comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay by William Peter Blatty is based on a story by Arne Sultan and Marvin Worth.-Plot:...
(1965) - What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? is a 1966 comedy film written by William Peter Blatty and directed by Blake Edwards. It stars James Coburn and Dick Shawn.-Plot:...
(1966) - GunnGunn (film)Gunn is an American 1967 mystery film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Craig Stevens. It featured the same lead character from the 1958-1961 television series Peter Gunn, and a Henry Mancini score but the characters of Gunn's singing girlfriend Edie Hart and Police Lieutenant Jacoby were...
(1967 - co-screenplay) - The Great Bank RobberyThe Great Bank RobberyThe Great Bank Robbery is a 1969 Western comedy film from Warner Brothers directed by Hy Averback and written by William Peter Blatty, based on the novel by Frank O'Rourke...
(1969) - Darling LiliDarling LiliDarling Lili is a 1970 American musical film. The screenplay was written by William Peter Blatty and Blake Edwards, who also directed. The cast included Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, and Jeremy Kemp.-Plot:...
(1970 - co-screenplay) - Mastermind (1976 as "Terence Clyne")
- The ExorcistThe Exorcist (film)The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
(1973) - The Ninth ConfigurationThe Ninth ConfigurationThe Ninth Configuration, is an American-made film, released in 1980, directed by William Peter Blatty...
(1980) - The Exorcist III: Legion (1990)
Producer
- The ExorcistThe Exorcist (film)The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
(1973) - The Ninth ConfigurationThe Ninth ConfigurationThe Ninth Configuration, is an American-made film, released in 1980, directed by William Peter Blatty...
(1980)