Why Linda Blair was never the same after The Exorcist
Statue of Linda Blair from ‘The Exorcist’ on display at the 43rd Annual Saturn Awards – After Party held at The Castaway on June 28, 2017 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
Blair didn’t have to toss herself down any steps but the straps that held her to the bed, where she was thrashed around, dug into her back, and her bedroom, built on wheels allowing the room to actually shake, was kept at a temperature of 30 below zero so the cameras could pick up the cloud of ice when an actor breathed.
While the rest of the crew was dressed appropriately, Blair was wearing only a nightgown.
The challenges were felt by everyone on the set.
The set of The Exorcist seemed cursed and had an extensive list of tragedies and deaths related to production.
In the book, “The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist,” special effects innovator Marcel Vercoutere–the man who made Blair’s head spin–said, “There was definitely a feeling it (something bad) could happen. I felt I was playing around with something I shouldn’t be playing around with.”
One of the most bizarre incidents was when a bird flew into a lightbox, sparking a massive fire, which burned down the entire set where Regan’s exorcism was to take place. Production was stalled six weeks while the set was rebuilt.
The day before the fire, Friedkin asked technical advisor Thomas Bermingham–a Jesuit priest who guided Blatty on his book–to exorcise the set. Stating there was not enough evidence to perform a real exorcism, he instead blessed the entire cast and crew.
Still tragedy continued to strike production. Jack MacGowran, who played Regan’s first victim Burke Dennings in the film, died after getting influenza. Vasiliki Maliaros, the actress playing Father Karras’ mother, also died before the movie was released. What’s really disturbing is that both of their characters die in The Exorcist.
Other actors lost family, including Blair, whose grandfather died during production.
A total of nine people related to the production died during the making of the film.
Blair, too young to fully understand the complexity and sensitivity of the concept, was unphased by the mysterious events surrounding the making of the film.
