“I couldn’t wait to finish it and become famous.”William Peter Blatty was born on Jan. 7, 1928, in Manhattan to Peter and Mary Blatty, immigrants from Lebanon. After serving in the Air Force, Mr. Blatty worked for the United States Information Agency in Beirut. Mr. Blatty lived in Bethesda. That was not how Mr. Blatty meant it. With the same purpose in mind, Mr. Blatty rewrote parts of the original book, even adding a chapter, for a 40th-anniversary edition of “The Exorcist” published in 2011.

Source: New York Times January 13, 2017 19:07 UTC