'Exorcist' Author William Peter Blatty Dies at 89

BETHESDA, MD — Author William Peter Blatty, whose best-selling novel "The Exorcist" was made into the Oscar-winning movie of the same name that terrified millions with its tale of demonic possession of a girl, died Thursday at age 89. Blatty died at a hospital in his hometown of Bethesda from multiple myeloma, his wife, Julie Alicia Blatty, told The Associated Press.

The novel was on The New York Times fiction best-seller list for more than a year and sold more than 13 million copies. Blatty said in interviews over the years that he became interested in the topic of demonic possession as a student at Georgetown University.

Blatty's novel published in 1971 was loosely based on actual events inspired by a reported 1949 exorcism of a boy that took place in Cottage City in Prince George’s County. According to Wikipedia, the boy was known only by the pseudonym “Roland Doe” or “Robbie Mannheim.” The youth was the alleged victim of demonic possession, and the events were recorded by a priest, Raymond Bishop.

The gist of the 1973 film: When young Regan (Linda Blair) starts acting odd — levitating, speaking in tongues — her worried mother (Ellen Burstyn) seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest (Jason Miller), however, thinks the girl may be seized by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert (Max von Sydow) to help with the difficult job. (Read more about “The Exorcist” in this Washington Post story.)

Director William Friedkin's movie of the tale, produced and written by Blatty, is one of the top ten box-office performers of all time, with 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and a win for Blatty’s Best Adapted Screenplay.

Horror master Stephen King tweeted, "RIP William Peter Blatty, who wrote the great horror novel of our time. So long, Old Bill."

And of his friend and collaborator Friedkin said: "William Peter Blatty, dear friend and brother who created The Exorcist passed away yesterday."

Friedkin had never seen the Catholic rite of exorcism practiced when they made the film, but last year he filmed an Italian priest who performed exorcisms. He wrote about the experience and reminisced in the December 2016 issue of Vanity Fair on how he and Blatty came to create their masterpiece.

"I had no particular interest in the spiritual or the supernatural when the writer Bill Blatty asked me to direct the film of his novel, The Exorcist. Six years before, I had told him one of his scripts was terrible," Friedkin wrote in the magazine. "As a result, he believed I was the only director who would tell him the truth. … I made the film believing in the reality of exorcism and never, to this day, thought of it as a horror film."

Rolling Stone says that Blatty was known more as a comedy writer in the 1960s, crafting many humorous feature films including "The Great Bank Robbery," "A Shot in the Dark," "Promise Her Anything" and "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?"

Blatty was born on Jan. 7, 1928, in New York City. He was married four times, marrying his widow Julie in 1983, and has eight children, according to IMD.com.

»Photo of author William Peter Blatty, courtesy of Wikipedia