Biography for Linda Blair
Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil
Father Lamont is sent by his Cardinal to discover the truth behind the death of Father Merrin and also to see why Regan was possessed by the demon Pazuzu. Father Lamont travels around the globe to Africa in search of another possessed by the same demon named Kokumo which Father Merrin had performed an exorcism several years in the past. Kokumo tells Father Lamont that the demon lives inside locusts who fly around the world. When Father Lamont returns to New York were Regan lives he discovers the demon has reached Regan through Dr. Gene Tuskin's hypnosis machine. Father Lamont travels to Regan's old home in Georgetown to defeat the demon. However this time the demon takes control of Regan, Father Lamont, and Sharon. Father Merrin's spirit returns to help.
Biography for Linda Blair
Date of birth
22 January 1959
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Birth name
Linda Denise Blair
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From the age of six, Linda Blair had to get used to the spotlight, both as a model and in motion pictures, when she out of 600 applicants got chosen to the role of Regan - the possessed child in Exorcist, The (1973). Linda was about set to take the Academy Award for that role, but when it leaked how little of the possessed child she actually had been (dubbed voice by Mercedes McCambridge, and substantial use of a dummy) that dream broke, and with that disappointment probably came the first blow to what should have been a sure road to stardom. Over the next few years she had no trouble finding leading roles in a number of pictures, mostly as some kind of abused child (13-year old alcoholic, rape-victim, just to mention a couple), but the early attention brought with it the life in the fast lane and Linda, as quite a few others, in recent years, hadn't had the time to learn how to handle it, and drugs, a bunch of unsteady relationships etc. almost brought her career to an end.
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Trivia
Family moved to Westport, CT when Linda was 2.
Appeared in 75 commercials and hundreds of magazine catalogues by the time she was 12.
Received death threats after "The Exorcist" premiered. Warner Brothers, the studio which released the film, hired the police to live with the Blair family for 6 months. The culprit was never caught.
Flew to Florida to attend funerals for members of the band Lynard Skynard, when an acquaintance convinced her to go with her and buy cocaine. Blair reportedly went because she was interested in buying pedigree puppies which the dealers were supposedly selling. Blair reportedly bought cocaine, and then returned to Connecticut. She kept in touch with the dealers, supposedly because she wanted the puppies, but the Drug Enforcement Agency was tapping the phones. They arrested Blair, along with 30+ others, and charged her with conspiracy to buy the cocaine in Florida and sell it in Connecticut. Police searched her purse, found amphetimines, and then charged her with possession. The possession charge was dropped, and the conspiracy charge was reduced. She received 3 years probation.
Her father, James, was an executive headhunter. Her mother, Elinore, was a real estate agent. She has a bother, Jimmy, and a sister, Debbie.
Dated Rick James. James' 1983 hit, "Cold Blooded," was supposedly about his and Blair's brief romance.
Is a vegan.
Owns her own clothing line called Linda Blair's Wild West Collection.
Did all of her own skating in Roller Boogie (1979) and consequently developed bursitis in her hip.
Linda has won numerous awards for her work as an animal rights activist from organizations such as P.E.T.A. and Linda also lends her name to helping stop animal abuse all over the world.
She's written a book about veganism called "Going Vegan!".
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Personal quotes
"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."
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
She probably figures that no one in America will ever be able to look at her without thinking of the little girl whose head spun like a top in The Exorcist (1973), and she's probably right. This preternaturally chubby-faced former child model made her motion picture debut in 1970's The Way We Live Now and appeared in several other TV shows and movies before taking the role of the possessed teen, for which she was Oscarnominated as Best Supporting Actress. Between reprising the role in the 1977 sequel and parodying it in the 1990 comedy Repossessed Blair has appeared in Airport 1975, Sara T.-Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (a 1975 telefilm), Hell Night (1981), and, playing an adult, in Chained Heat (1983), Savage Streets (1984), Grotesque, Witchery (both 1988), Up Your Alley, The Chilling (both 1989), House 5 (1990), and Fatal Bond (1991). Some of her early 1980s films were heavy-duty exploitation items in which Blair suffered frequent indignities (including nude and rape scenes); happily, her recent outings have been slightly tamer.
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Links:
Cyber Meltdown (2005) (in production)
Monster Makers (2003) (TV) .... Shelly Stoker
"Scariest Places on Earth, The" (2001) TV Series .... Host
AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001) (TV) .... Herself
Famous (2000) .... Herself
... aka Lisa Picard Is Famous (2001) (USA)
"L.A. 7" (2000) TV Series .... Joni
... aka "S Club 7 in L.A." (2000) (USA)
"Walking After Midnight" (1999) TV Series
Blair Bitch Project starring Linda Blair, The (1999) (V) .... Heather
... aka Blair Bitch Project, The (1999) (V) (USA: short title)
Linda Blair: The E! True Hollywood Story (1999) (TV) .... Herself
Fear of God: The Making of the Exorcist, The (1998) (TV) .... Herself
Marina (1997)
Prey of the Jaguar (1996) .... Cody Johnson
Scream (1996) (uncredited) .... Obnoxious Reporter
Skins (1994)
... aka Gang Boys (1998) (USA: video title)
Sorceress (1994) .... Amelia Reynolds
... aka Temptress II (1994)
Double Blast (1993) .... Claudia
Fatal Bond (1992) .... Leonie Stevens
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride (1992) (TV) .... Hannah Hawkes
Calendar Girl, Cop, Killer? The Bambi Bembenek Story (1992) (TV) .... Jane Mader
... aka Heart of the Lie, The (1992) (TV)
Bedroom Eyes II (1990) .... Sophie Stevens
Dead Sleep (1990) .... Maggie Healey
Zapped Again! (1990) (V) .... Miss Mitchell
Circus of the Stars #15 (1990) (TV)
Horror Hall of Fame, The (1990) (TV) .... Interviewee
Repossessed (1990) .... Nancy Aglet
Aunt Millie's Will (1989)
Bad Blood (1989) .... Evie Barnes
... aka Woman Obsessed, A (1989)
... aka Woman's Obsession, A (1989)
Chilling, The (1989) .... Mary Hampton
... aka Gamma 693 (1989)
How to Get Revenge (1989) (V) .... Hostess
W.B., Blue and the Bean (1989) (V) .... Nettie
... aka Bail Out (1989) (V)
Bersaglio sull'autostrada (1988)
... aka Moving Target (1988/II)
Silent Assassins (1988) .... Sara
Up Your Alley (1988) .... Vickie Adderly
Witchery (1988) .... Jane Brooks
... aka Casa 4, La (1988) (USA)
... aka Ghosthouse 2 (1988) (UK: video title)
... aka Malefiche presenze (1989) (Italy)
... aka Witchcraft (1988/II) (Europe: English title)
... aka Witchery (1988) (USA)
Grotesque (1988) .... Lisa
Nightforce (1987) .... Carla
SFX Retaliator (1987) .... Doris
... aka Heroin Deal, The (1987)
Savage Island (1985) .... Daly
Red Heat (1985) .... Christine Carlson
Savage Streets (1984) .... Brenda
Night Patrol (1984) .... Sue Perman
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Regan MacNeill (segment "The Exorcist")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: English title: video title)
Chained Heat (1983) .... Carol Henderson
... aka Frauenlager, Das (1983) (West Germany: video title)
Circus of the Stars #8 (1983) (TV) .... Performer
Circus of the Stars #7 (1982) (TV)
Ruckus (1982) .... Jenny Bellows
... aka Big Ruckus in a Small Town (????) (USA: video title)
... aka Loner, The (1982)
... aka Ruckus in Madoc Country (1982)
Hell Night (1981) .... Marti
Roller Boogie (1979) .... Terry Barkley
Wild Horse Hank (1979) .... Hank Bradford
Stranger in Our House (1978) (TV) .... Rachel Bryant
... aka Summer of Fear (1978) (TV)
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) .... Regan MacNeil
Victory at Entebbe (1976) (TV) .... Chana Vilnofsky
Sweet Hostage (1975) (TV) .... Doris Mae Withers
Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) (TV) .... Sarah Travis
Airport 1975 (1974) .... Janice Abbott
Born Innocent (1974) (TV) .... Chris Parker
Exorcist, The (1973) .... Regan MacNeil
... aka Exorcist: The Version You Haven't Seen Yet, The (2000) (USA: recut version)
... aka Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen, The (2000) (USA: promotional title)
... aka William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist (2000) (USA: reissue title)
Sporting Club, The (1971) .... Barby
Way We Live Now, The (1970) .... Sara Aldridge
"Hidden Faces" (1968) TV Series
Producer
Skins (1994) (producer)
... aka Gang Boys (USA: video title)
Grotesque (1988) (associate producer)
Miscellaneous Crew
"The Scariest Places on Earth" (2001) TV Series (creative consultant)
Other Linda Blair pages on Women of Horror:
The Exorcist
