LOS ANGELES — William Friedkin, the Oscar winning director who became a top filmmaker in his 30s with the gripping "The French Connection" and the horrifying "The Exorcist" and struggled in the ...

He made his name with two of the biggest box-office hits of the 1970s. But despite some later successes, he never regained his early acclaim. By William Grimes William Friedkin, a filmmaker whose ...