William Peter Blatty | |
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 Blatty in 2009 | |
| Born | (1928-01-07)January 7, 1928 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | January 12, 2017(2017-01-12) (aged 89) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
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| Education | Georgetown University (BA) George Washington University (MA) |
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| Children | 7; includingJ. T. Blatty |
William Peter Blatty (January 7, 1928 – January 12, 2017) was an American writer, director and producer.[1] He is best known for his 1971 novelThe Exorcist and for his screenplay forthe 1973 film adaptation. Blatty won anAcademy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay forThe Exorcist, and was nominated forBest Picture as its producer. The film also earned Blatty aGolden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama as producer.
Born and raised in New York City, Blatty received his bachelor's degree in English fromGeorgetown University in 1950, and his master's degree in English literature from theGeorge Washington University. Following completion of his master's degree in 1954, he joined theUnited States Air Force and served in thePsychological Warfare Division where he attained the rank of first lieutenant. After service in the air force, he worked for theUnited States Information Agency in Beirut.
After the success ofThe Exorcist, Blatty reworked his 1966 novelTwinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane! into a new novel titledThe Ninth Configuration, published in 1978. He went on to adapt the novel intothe 1980 film, which was also his directorial debut. At the38th Golden Globe Awards, the film won Best Screenplay and was nominated for Best Picture.
Blatty refused to have any involvement withthe first sequel toThe Exorcist; it was critically panned. He directed the second sequel,The Exorcist III (1990), which he adapted from his 1983 novelLegion. His second film as a director,The Exorcist III was his final directorial credit and final screenplay credit.[1] Some of his later novels includeElsewhere (2009),Dimiter (2010) andCrazy (2010).
Blatty was born on January 7, 1928, in New York City.[2][3] He was the fifthand youngest child ofLebanese immigrants,[3][4] Mary (née Mouakad;Arabic:ماري معقد بلاتي), a devoutMelkite Catholic and the niece of bishopGermanos Mouakkad, and Peter Blatty (Arabic:بيتر بلاتي), a cloth cutter.[5][6] His parents separated when he was a toddler.[3] He was raised in what he described as "comfortable destitution" by his deeply religious mother, whose sole support came from peddling homemadequince jelly in the streets ofManhattan;[3][5] she once offered a jar of it toFranklin D. Roosevelt when the President was cutting the ribbon for theQueens–Midtown Tunnel, telling him, "For when you have company."[7] He lived at 28 different addresses during his childhood[5] because of nonpayment of rent.[8] "We never lived at the same address in New York for longer than two or three months at a time," Blatty toldThe Washington Post in 1972. "Eviction was the order of the day."[3] Blatty's mother died in 1967.[5]
He attendedBrooklyn Preparatory, a Jesuit school, on a scholarship and graduated as classvaledictorian in 1946.[5][9] He later attendedGeorgetown University on a scholarship,[5] where he earned his bachelor's degree in English in 1950.[3][10] "Those years at Georgetown were probably the best years of my life," Blatty said in 2015. "Until then, I’d never had a home."[3] While studying for his master's degree atGeorge Washington University, Blatty took menial jobs.[6] Initially unable to find a job in teaching, he worked as a vacuum-cleanerdoor-to-door salesman, a beer-truck driver,[3] and as aUnited Airlines ticket agent.[2] He earned his master's in English literature from the George Washington University in 1954.[3][10] He then enlisted in theUnited States Air Force.[2][3]
Mustering out of the Air Force, he joined theUnited States Information Agency and worked as an editor based inBeirut, Lebanon.[2][5] Eventually, his writing talent emerged, and he began submitting humorous articles to magazines.[10]
In the late 1950s, Blatty worked as the public relations director atLoyola University of Los Angeles[11] and as a publicity director at theUniversity of Southern California.[12][3] He published his first book,Which Way to Mecca, Jack? in 1960,[5] a humorous look at both his early life, and his work at the United States Information Agency inLebanon.[13][14] The book also tells of his successful masquerade as a Saudi Arabian prince when he got to Los Angeles. In 1961, while still pretending to be a prince, Blatty appeared as a contestant on theGroucho Marxquiz showYou Bet Your Life, winning $10,000,[2][5] enough money to quit his job and to write full-time.[5] Thereafter, he never held a regular job.[5][15]
He then published the comic novels:John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1963),[5]I, Billy Shakespeare (1965),[2] andTwinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane (1966).[2] He achieved critical success with these books – Marvin Levin in theNew York Times, for example, wrote: "Nobody can write funnier lines than William Peter Blatty, a gifted virtuoso who writes like[S. J.] Perelman"; but significant sales were lacking.[2] It was at this point that Blatty began a collaboration with directorBlake Edwards,[5] writing scripts for comedy films such as:A Shot in the Dark (1964),[5]What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966),[5]Gunn (1967),[5] andDarling Lili (1970),[5] a musical starringJulie Andrews andRock Hudson. Blatty also worked on his own using the name "Bill Blatty" writing comedy screenplays such as those for theDanny Kaye film[5]The Man from the Diners' Club (1963), and theWarren Beatty/Leslie Caron film[5]Promise Her Anything (1965). Other screenplays include the film adaptation ofJohn Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965),[3] andThe Great Bank Robbery (1969).[16]
Later Blatty resumed writing fiction.[2] In 1971, he wroteThe Exorcist,[2] the story of a twelve-year-old girl possessed by a powerful demon, that toppedThe New York Times Best Seller list for 17 weeks and remained on the list for 57 consecutive weeks.[2] The book sold more than 13 million copies in the United States alone and was translated into over a dozen languages.[3] He later adapted it with directorWilliam Friedkin into thefilm version.[5] Blatty went on to win an Academy Award for hisExorcist screenplay,[5] as well as Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Writing.[10] It also became the first horror film ever to be nominated for the best picture Oscar.[5]
In 1978, Blatty adapted his novelTwinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane into a new book titledThe Ninth Configuration,[2] and in 1980 he wrote, directed, and produced a film version, which focused on the question of the existence of God.[2] The film was a commercial flop despite critical acclaim. Movie critic Jerry Stein called it a "masterpiece" inThe Cincinnati Post, and Peter Travers described it as "the finest large-scale American surrealist film ever made" inPeople magazine.[2] At the38th Golden Globe Awards in 1981 it was nominated for three Golden Globes, and won the Best Writing Award[10] against competition that includedThe Elephant Man (1980),Ordinary People (1980), andRaging Bull (1980).[2] In 1983, Blatty wroteLegion, a sequel toThe Exorcist which later became the basis of the filmThe Exorcist III.[2] At first he was unable to set up the production because he wanted to direct the film.[citation needed]Blatty's agent, Steve Jaffe, helped package the project[citation needed] with producer Carter DeHaven atMorgan Creek Productions. Blatty directed the film. He originally wanted the movie version to be titledLegion, but the film's 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.[2] Blatty had no involvement with it and his own follow-up ignored it entirely.[2]
Blatty's son Peter Vincent Blatty died from a rare heart disorder in 2006 at the age of 19.[5][17] His death was the subject of Blatty's non-fiction book that is "part comic memoir, part argument for life after death", titled,Finding Peter: A True Story of the Hand of Providence and Evidence of Life After Death (2015).[17]
In 2011,The Exorcist was re-released in a 40th Anniversary Edition[5] in paperback, hardcover, and audiobook formats with new cover artwork. As described by Blatty, this new, updated edition features new and revised material.
The 40th Anniversary Edition ofThe 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.[18]
Tor/Forge have also re-publishedThe Ninth Configuration[19] andLegion,[20] with new, updated cover artwork.
The Exorcist was eventually adapted into a stage play starringRichard Chamberlain andBrooke Shields in 2012 and aTV series starringGeena Davis in 2016.[6]
Blatty married four times and had seven children.[8] With his first wife, Mary Margaret Rigard, whom he married on February 18, 1950, he had three children: Christine Ann, Michael Peter, and Mary Joanne.[21] His first marriage ended in divorce after 13 years.[22] His second wife was Elizabeth Gilman, whom he married in 1965.[22] In July 1975 he married his third wife, tennis professionalLinda Tuero, with whom he had two children: restaurant entrepreneur Billy and photojournalistJ. T. Blatty.[22][23] Following thedissolution of his first three marriages,[3] Blatty married Julie Alicia Witbrodt, his fourth wife, in 1983,[24][5] with whom he had two children.[25] The couple remained together until Blatty's death.[8] After residing for many years inHollywood andAspen, Blatty settled inBethesda,Maryland in 2000.[3]
Blatty was aRoman Catholic.[26] In 2012, he filed acanon law petition against his alma mater,Georgetown University, which he said has been at variance with Catholic Church teaching for decades, inviting speakers who supportabortion rights and disobeyingPope John Paul II's instructions issued to Church-affiliated colleges and universities in 1990.[27] The Vatican rejected the petition in 2014.[28] In the Vatican's response to Blatty, ArchbishopAngelo Zani stated that the rejection was because Blatty had not "suffered an objective change" at Georgetown's hands, but acknowledged that Blatty's case constituted "a well-founded complaint".[29]
Blatty died ofmultiple myeloma on January 12, 2017, at a hospital in Bethesda, five days after his 89th birthday.[2][5]
Studies of Blatty's work include G. S. J. Barclay'sAnatomy of Horror: The Masters of Occult Fiction.[30]Critical essays on Blatty's work includeDouglas E. Winter's essay inA Dark Night's Dreaming: Contemporary American Horror Fiction,[31] andS. T. Joshi's essay"William Peter Blatty: The Catholic Weird Tale" inThe Modern Weird Tale: A Critique of Horror Fiction (2001).[32] Essays studying all Blatty's novels can be found in Benjamin Szumskyj'sAmerican Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty (McFarland, 2008).
Awards include:
| Title | Year | Credited as | Notes | Ref(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Screenwriter | Producer | ||||
| The Man from the Diners' Club | 1963 | No | Yes | No | [24][43] | |
| A Shot in the Dark | 1964 | No | Yes | No | [24][41][44] | |
| John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! | 1965 | No | Yes | No | [45] | |
| Promise Her Anything | No | Yes | No | [46][41] | ||
| What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? | 1966 | No | Yes | No | [47] | |
| Gunn | 1967 | No | Yes | No | [48] | |
| The Great Bank Robbery | 1969 | No | Yes | No | [49] | |
| Darling Lili | 1970 | No | Yes | No | [50] | |
| The Exorcist | 1973 | No | Yes | Yes | [51] | |
| Mastermind | 1976 | No | Yes | No | Credited as "Terence Clyne" | [2] |
| The Ninth Configuration | 1980 | Yes | Yes | Yes | [52] | |
| The Exorcist III | 1990 | Yes | Yes | No | [53] | |
William Peter blatty.
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