William Peter Blatty

William Peter Blatty was born in Manhattan, New York on January 7, 1928. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1950. After serving in the Air Force, he worked for the United States Information Agency in Beirut. He returned to the United States for a public relations job in Los Angeles, where he hoped to begin his career as a writer. In 1961, he appeared as a contestant on You Bet Your Life. He and a fellow contestant won $10,000. He quit his day job and become a full-time writer. He collaborated with the director Blake Edwards on the screenplays for several films including A Shot in the Dark, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, Darling Lili, and Gunn. He wrote several horror fiction books including The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration, and Legion. All of the books were adapted into movies with the screenplays written by Blatty. He won an Academy Award for The Exorcist screenplay. He also adapted his novel John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! for the screen. He wrote several memoirs including Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, I'll Tell Them I Remember You, and Finding Peter. He died from multiple myeloma on January 12, 2017 at the age of 89.