William peter blatty the exorcist

All All. Sign In. Linda Blatty July 20, - October 6, divorced, 2 children. Elizabeth Gilman - divorced, 3 children. Mary Margaret Rigard February 18, - August annulled.

William peter blatty movies

Peter Blatty. Mary Mouakad Blatty. Years before he became famous for writing "The Exorcist", Blatty appeared on Groucho Marx 's quiz show, You Bet Your Life , posing as an Arab sheik with so many wives that he could not recall how many he had. Groucho was completely taken in.

William peter blatty cause of death

When Blatty revealed that it was a hoax after a couple of minutes, he told Groucho that he did it because George Fenneman had said that Groucho was an expert at spotting phonies. Groucho replied, "That is incorrect, because I've had Fenneman in my employ now for 14 years. He became friends with Tippi Hedren in the early s, and she named one of her lions Billy after him.

He gave her a copy of his unpublished novel "The Exorcist" and she was so absorbed reading it that she woke up her then-husband, agent Noel Marshall , in the middle of the night and told him that he should represent Blatty in publishing the novel and the film adaptation. She took the photo of the author for the first edition novel's back jacket.

When the film became a blockbuster, Blatty refused to give the profits, since he never signed the written contract but only initiated it. Marshall sued and the lawsuit dragged on for several years, eventually reaching an out-of-court settlement.