William Peter Blatty

William Peter Blatty ( born January 7, 1928 in New York City, USA) is an American writer and director. He is famous worldwide for his novel The Exorcist from 1971, for which he wrote the screenplay adaptation.

Life

Blatty is the son of Lebanese parents. His father left the family when William was six years old. Since his mother was very religious, he attended among others a Catholic school in New York and studied at Georgetown University, a Jesuit school. He then studied at George Washington University English literature and graduated with a Master's from.

In the following years as a soldier of the U.S. Air Force stationed in Beirut, Lebanon, he began to write and discovered his talent as a writer.

His breakthrough came in 1959 with the book Which way to Meca, Jack?. In the 1960s, William worked with the director Blake Edwards and wrote for his films such as, inter alia, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? ) The stories. His worldwide fame but he owes his book The Exorcist, which was successfully filmed in 1973. At the 1977 released movie sequel Blatty was not involved. In 1983, he wrote with the character ( Legion ) the continuation of the original story and in 1990 was The Exorcist III, which is based on the character ( Legion ) and was directed by Blatty himself.

William Peter Blatty is married and the father of seven children.

Works (selection)

As a director,

As the author

As a screenwriter

Awards

• Oscar 1974 in the category Best Adapted Screenplay.
• Golden Globe Award in 1973 and 1980.
• Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998.