William Friedkin, 'Exorcist' director, dead at 87

William Friedkin, director of iconic 1970s films including "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist," has died, his wife Sherry Lansing, the former CEO of Paramount Pictures, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday.

He was 87.

Friedkin won the Oscar for best director for "French Connection" in 1972, going on to be nominated for the same trophy again two years later for occult horror "Exorcist," the genre-defying hit that racked up ten nominations and two statuettes.

Friedkin's first directing credit came in 1965 with the TV movie "The Bold Men," but it was 1970's "The Boys in the Band" - still considered ahead of its time in terms of exploring gay themes in cinema - that began a golden age for the filmmaker.

Other notable titles in Friedkin's oeuvre include 1980's "Cruising," starring Al Pacino, and "To Live and Die in L.A." in 1985, with Willem Dafoe. He also directed 2006's "Bug" with Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon and Harry Connick Jr., and "Rules of Engagement" from 2000, with Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson.

One of his less successful outings was "Jade," starring David Caruso (fresh off "NYPD Blue") and Linda Fiorentino, a notorious erotic-thriller flop in 1995.

Friedkin's most recent work as a director was 2017's "The Devil and Father Amort." He also had one upcoming film yet to be released - "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke and Jake Lacy, according to his IMDb page.