|
|
Occupation: Director 
AwardsFriedkin began his career as a director with a local Chicago TV station at around age 16, and reportedly worked on over 2,000 shows before graduating to features in the late 1960s. His feature directorial debut was GOOD TIMES (1967), with Sonny and Cher, which he followed with more ambitious projects including the burlesque nostalgia piece THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY'S (1968) and the screen adaptation of playwright Harold Pinter's THE BIRTHDAY PARTY (1968), which was shot in England.
Friedkin joined the front rank of American directors with three adroitly handled and very different films: the finely acted breakthrough adaptation of Mart Crowley's off-Broadway play about gay men THE BOYS IN THE BAND (1970); the hard hitting, multiple Academy Award-winner THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971); and the trendsetting horror classic THE EXORCIST (1973). The controversial CRUISING (1980), which he directed from his own screenplay, drew widespread protests from gay rights groups over its slick equation of gay sexual desire with killer instinct. Friedkin has excelled at action scenes, particularly the renowned car chases in THE FRENCH CONNECTION considered by many to be the most exciting chase sequence ever filmed and TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985), a film he co-authored.
Friedkin returned to television to direct a Barbra Streisand special (HBO, 1986), and to produce and direct an action adventure series pilot "C.A.T. Squad" (NBC, 1986) and its 1988 sequel. Inspired by personal experiences with people hired to look after his son, Friedkin wrote and directed THE GUARDIAN (1990). A return to the horror genre, the film depicts a baby in supernatural danger from a new nanny. He delivered scares with a comic twist helming an episode of "Tales From the Crypt" (HBO, 1992), and directed Shannen Doherty and Antonio Sabato, Jr. in the made-for-cable outing JAILBREAKERS (1994), one of Showtime's "Rebel Highway" remakes of 1950s and 60s teen drive-in movies. In 1995, Friedkin directed JADE, the third installment of scripter Joe Eszterhas' series of San Francisco-set erotic thrillers that began in 1985 with JAGGED EDGE and continued with 1992's BASIC INSTINCT . The convoluted story boasted a solid cast and one of the filmmaker's trademark long, dizzying car chases. Married to actress-director Jeanne Moreau, eleven years his senior, from 1977 to 1979, and to actress Lesley-Anne Down from 1982 to 1985, Friedkin wed producer/studio executive Sherry Lansing in 1991.
© 2000 Cinemania Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved.