EPISODE COMING SOON
A chronology of William Peter Blatty’s life:
1928: Born in New York City to a devout Lebanese Maronite Catholic mother and an absent father.
1949: While a senior at Georgetown, Blatty reads a newspaper story about a Maryland boy allegedly exorcised by Catholic priests — a clipping he would save for decades.
1951: Joins the U.S. Air Force, assigned to the Psychological Warfare Division.
1951–1954: Stationed in the Middle East, including Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. His heritage likely influences the posting.
1958: As a social experiment and satire, Blatty poses as a Saudi prince in Los Angeles, material later used in his Saturday Evening Post article “They Believed I Was an Arab Prince.”
1960: Publishes Which Way to Mecca, Jack?, gaining modest literary attention and entry into Hollywood circles.
1961: Appears on You Bet Your Life as the same fictitious prince, wins $10,000 (~$100,000 today), and commits to writing full-time.
1961–1964: Builds a Hollywood career co-writing comedies, including A Shot in the Dark and What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?.
1965–1966: Publishes I, Billy Shakespeare, but grows disillusioned with comedic writing and feels spiritually restless.
1967: His mother dies. Her death devastates him. “She never had anything,” he later says. “I used to beg God to give me my success while she was still alive. But it didn’t happen.”
March 1967: Rosemary’s Baby novel published
June 1968: Rosemary’s Baby movie is released, ushering in a new era of religious horror — but without God. Blatty sees an opportunity, and a spiritual imperative.
December 31, 1969: Pitches Exorcist story to Bantam editor Mark Jaffe at party (there are conflicting reports suggesting it was 1967, after success of Rosemary’s Baby the novel)
January 1970: Begins writing The Exorcist, not as horror, but as a theological novel disguised as one — an attempt to force belief back into the culture, and into himself.
May 1971: The Exorcist is published.
Late 1971: Tells story on Dick Cavett – when Robert Shaw is too drunk to appear; the book becomes a best-seller (search for episode goes on – https://www.reddit.com/r/horrorlit/comments/tiixo5/william_blattys_appearance_on_the_dick_cavett/)
1973: The film is released; it becomes a phenomenon, makes him immensely wealthy, and earns him an Academy Award for the screenplay. But his mother never lived to see it. This haunts him. He struggles to reconcile the timing — to understand why God would grant him success after the one person he prayed for was gone.
2006: His son Peter dies suddenly at age 19 from a rare heart condition.
2015: Publishes Finding Peter, a memoir and spiritual inquiry into his son’s continued existence. Blatty becomes convinced he has contacted Peter’s soul.
2017: William Peter Blatty dies at age 89, having spent his life chasing — and occasionally touching — the divine.