Happy new year! Firstly, a belated happy birthday to Bill Blatty who turned 84 on January 7.

Lots of things to look forward to in 2012, including the STAGE PLAY for The Exorcist and the stunning Lonely Road Books release of the original novel that sold out almost instantly:

http://brianjamesfreeman.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/the-exorcist-cover-artwork/

"As I mentioned a while back, Lonely Road Books will be publishing a special Limited Edition of The Exorcist: The 40th Anniversary Revised Edition by William Peter Blatty. The book sold out just 30 hours after it was announced, which is excellent for the collectors who managed to snag a copy, and production is moving along smoothly. In fact, today I'm extremely pleased to unveil Caniglia's incredible cover painting for the book, which I absolutely love.

In some sadder news, it is with a heavy heart that I report that the great actor Nicol Williamson, best known for playing Father Paul Morning in The Exorcist III and originally slated to play the role of Kane in The Ninth Configuration passed away on December 16, only being announced today by his son, Luke:

http://www.nicolwilliamson.com/?p=274

01.25.12
To the fans of Nicol.

Posted in Personal Message at 5:36 am by Luke

It's with great sadness, and yet with a heart full of pride and love for a man who was a tremendous father, friend, actor, poet, writer and singer, that I must bring news of Nicol's passing. Dad died peacefully in the early hours of the 16th of December after a two year all out, balls to the wall struggle against esophageal cancer. He gave it all he had: never gave up, never complained, maintained his wicked sense of humor to the end. His last words were "I love you". I was with him, he was not alone, he was not in pain.

Bill's own personal response:

For those interested, embedded below is a video of Nicol discussing the topic of death:

 

Posted on January 26, 2012 | Discuss This Post