William Friedkin, an Oscar-winning movie and television director, is dead at age 87. How he died and his net worth explored.
William Friedkin had a successful career in the entertainment industry from 1962 to 2023.
He was a famed American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter closely identified with the “New Hollywood” movement of the 1970s.
On August 7, 2023, the world learned about his death as he reportedly died in Los Angeles, California, United States. And following this tragic news, many might want to know more about his cause of death and net worth. Read on for more.
Profile Summary
| Celebrated Name: | William Friedkin |
| Net Worth: | $70 million |
| Profession: | Film Director, Screenwriter, Film Producer, Television Director |
| Full Real Name: | William David Friedkin |
| Date of Birth: | Born: August 29, 1935 |
| Birthplace: | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | 6 ft (1.83 m) |
What was William Friedkin’s cause of death?
William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning director behind such films as The French Connection and The Exorcist, died Monday in Los Angeles.
His wife, former producer and studio head Sherry Lansing, confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.
Friedkin died from heart failure and pneumonia at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, on August 7, 2023, at the age of 87.
What was William Friedkin’s net worth?
For his years in the entertainment industry, William Friedkin died a multi-millionaire. He accumulated an estimated net worth of $70 million and earned sizable salary, per CelebrityNetWorth. He accrued his fortune for his works as an American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter.
Friedkin was part of a generation of talented filmmakers who made their mark in the 1970s by boldly disrupting the studio establishment with provocative, antiauthoritarian movies. He beat out several major industry players — among them, Stanley Kubrick and Peter Bogdanovich — to win the Best Director Oscar for The French Connection at the 1972 Academy Awards. Two years later, he went up against the likes of George Lucas, Bernardo Bertolucci and Ingmar Bergman with The Exorcist.
Born in Chicago in 1935, Friedkin kicked off his directing career by steering a 1965 episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, as well as several telefilms. That same decade, he went on to work on such movies as Good Times (1967), The Birthday Party (1968) and The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968).
After directing The Boys in the Band in 1970, he dove into what would be a career highlight with 1971’s The French Connection, an action-packed thriller starring Gene Hackman. The movie nabbed four other Oscars including Best Picture.
In 1973, Friedkin directed the iconic horror film The Exorcist, known for its infamous and chilling head-spinning scene. His other films include 1977’s Sorcerer, 1985’s To Live and Die in L.A., 2000’s Rules of Engagement and 2006’s Bug.
According to THR, Friedkin was keenly admired by a younger generation of directors. Shortly before Damien Chazelle became the youngest director to win an Oscar (for La La Land), he paid a visit to Friedkin’s Bel-Air, California, home to meet the acclaimed filmmaker.
Friedkin published a memoir in 2013 called The Friedkin Connection, which details his life and Hollywood career. The director wrote about growing up poor with his mother, a former nurse, and father, who he said jumped between jobs and “seemed to have no sense of purpose except day-to-day survival.”
He said his family at times subsisted on welfare. “I never knew it. All my friends lived the same way,” he wrote.
In the book, Friedkin also recounted how various opportunities in his path eventually led him to Hollywood. After graduating from high school in 1955, he got a job at local TV station WGN, where a writer and columnist named Fran Coughlin mentored him and opened his eyes to a wider world of art, movies and politicians. He worked his way up to become director of live television for the station.
Friedkin later discovered documentary filmmaking via a chance meeting with a local prison chaplain, who told him about a death row inmate awaiting execution whom he believed to be innocent. Friedkin turned the inmate’s story into the TV documentary The People vs. Paul Crump. He then left home to move to Los Angeles to pursue a directing career.
The director is survived by his widow Lansing, a former studio chief at Paramount Pictures who was his fourth wife, and two sons.