| BIOGRAPHY
Although many people assume that The Exorcist (1974) was American
actress Linda Blair's film debut, she had actually been working
in commercials since age six.
Blair was chosen from a field of 500 hopefuls for Exorcist because
of her resemblance to the film's star, Ellen Burstyn. To the casual
viewer, the film, which dealt with the Devil's possession of an
innocent preteen girl, was hardly the sort of fare that any responsible
parent would allow their child to appear in. But the Exorcist's
director, William Friedkin, was careful to prearrange the special
effects (head turning around, bloody body wounds, vomiting green
bile) with the least amount of danger or trauma for Blair. From
all reports, she handled the assignment like a trouper, though
she balked at having her hair messed up for the purposes of the
plot.
Blair was nominated for an Academy Award for her Exorcist work,
but this campaign was scuttled when it was learned that, not only
had the girl been extensively doubled by a dummy, but her horrendous
"Satan" voice, explicit obscenities and all, had been
dubbed by adult actress Mercedes McCambridge.
A major celebrity at 15, Linda Blair was able for a while to
parlay her Exorcist work into a series of demanding film and TV
roles, most of which cast her as a much-abused victim. Her rape
scene in the TV movie Born Innocent was so graphic that the network
was forced to cut the scene when the film was rerun.
In other appearances, sexy Blair played a teen alcoholic, a kidnap
victim, a heart-transplant patient on an endangered airliner,
and her Exorcist role again in Exorcist II (1977).
By this time, Blair was unable to maintain the equilibrium of
her career, which degenerated into exploitative crime or girls-in-prison
films. More recently, Linda was seen in Repossessed (1990), a
ham-handed spoof of the film that made her famous. |
FILMOGRAPHY
• Bail Out (1997)
• Gang Boys (1997)
• Scream (1996)
• Double Blast (1993)
• A Woman Obsessed (1993)
• Zapped Again! (1993)
• The Chilling (1991)
• Dead Sleep (1991)
• Fatal Bond (1991)
• Bedroom Eyes 2 (1990)
• Repossessed (1990)
• Moving Target (1989)
• Up Your Alley (1989)
• Witchery (1988)
• Grotesque (1987)
• Night Force (1987)
• Red Heat (1987)
• Silent Assassins (1987)
• Night Patrol (1984)
• Chained Heat (1983)
• Savage Streets (1983)
• Hell Night (1981)
• Ruckus (1981)
• Roller Boogie (1979)
• Wild Horse Hank (1979)
• Exorcist 2: The Heretic (1977)
• Sweet Hostage (1975)
• Born Innocent (1974)
• The Exorcist (1973)
• The Sporting Club (1972) |
