Linda Blair, born on January 22, 1959, in St. Louis, Missouri, gained international fame for her iconic role as Regan MacNeil in “The Exorcist” (1973). Her compelling performance in the horror classic earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination.
Blair began her acting career on TV with Hidden Faces (1968–69), a daytime soap opera followed by her first film, The Way We Live Now (1970).
It was always very strange for me when I was young and would meet someone who geniunely seemed to be afraid of me. They couldn’t separate me from the monster I became in a movie. You wouldn’t believe how often people ask me to make my head spin around.
Linda Blair
The Exorcist
In 1972, Blair was selected from 600 applicants for the role of Regan, the possessed daughter of an actress, in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973). The movie defined her early career and remains a landmark in horror cinema. She terrified a generation of filmgoers as a schoolgirl who spits obscenities and masturbates with a crucifix after being possessed by the Devil.
The Exorcist became an instant rage on release; the film was a huge critical and commercial success. Linda’s performance was praised universally. “Whatever one’s reaction may be to the film, Linda’s performance has to be considered the most powerful and moving ever given by a young actress in her first role,” reads an article in The New York Times from 1974.
With its success, it attracted huge religious attention and Blair was accused of glorifying Satan. She started to receive so much hate mail and death threats that she had to get police protection and a bodyguard was arranged for her by the producers.
That was not the end of it; on press tours, she was intensely questioned about faith, God, the Devil, evil, and the state of religion without realising that she is a 14-year-old kid and is not responsible for the writing of the film.
“When the movie came out, the amount of media pressure that came down on me wasn’t anything I was prepared for,”
Linda Blair
The Aftermath
With the success come the perks of it; she was typecast as a helpless teen and had to do films like controversial “Born Innocent” (1974), where she plays a sexually abused teenager, and “Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic” (1975), and many more. In 1979, her starring role in the musical drama “Roller Boogie” established her as a sex symbol and, as a result, she starred in several B-movies such as Hell Night (1981), Chained Heat (1983), and Savage Streets (1984).
Her story is an example of “how kids in the film industry are treated and used?” and how this early success can ruin their life if not handled with care. From a sweet kid to a criminal, her life came to a full circle when, in 1977, Blair was charged with the sale and possession of cocaine.
Later She improved her lifestyle and went on to do a lot of work in films and TV, but the promise she showed in The Exorcist never materialised fully. Now, after 50 years of her breakthrough role, Linda Blair is known for her advocacy work, particularly for animal rights. In 2004, she founded the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that serves to rehabilitate and adopt rescue animals. A vegan, she co-authored the book Going Vegan! in 2001.
