Most famous as the writer and screenwriter of The Exorcist, Blatty is the author of ten novels, and an autobiography, I’ll Tell Them I Remember You (1974). The Exorcist won Best Picture and Best Screenplay from the Golden Globes, an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and a People’s Choice Award from the Oscars.
The son of Lebanese immigrants, Blatty was raised in New York and moved to DC to attend Georgetown University and George Washington University. He then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force (serving in Beirut), and worked for the U.S. Information Agency, and in public relations. In 1961, he won $10,000 on the television quiz show You Bet Your Life, and that money allowed him to become a full-time writer.
His novels include: John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1963), I, Bill Shakespeare (1965), The Ninth Configuration (1978), and Crazy (2010). His nonfiction includes Finding Peter (2015). In addition, he wrote scripts for such films as The Man from the Diners’ Club (1963), A Shot in the Dark (1964), Promise Her Anything (1965), The Great Bank Robbery (1969), Darling Lili (1970), and Legion (1983). Blatty was married four times and the father of seven children. He lived at this address from 2000 until his death in 2017.