Friedkin set a new high bar for hide-your-eyes imagery and explicit screen shocks with William Peter Blatty scripting from his own best-selling novel. Big box office and 10 Oscar nominations followed, with wins for Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay. Movie star Ellen Burstyn, mid-shoot in D.C., finds preteen daughter Linda Blair in the monstrous grip of demonic possession and pleads for hands-on intervention from conflicted priests Max von Sydow and Jason Miller.