Linda Denise Blair is an American actress and activist. She played Regan MacNeil in the horror film The Exorcist (1973), for which she won a Golden Globe Award and received a nomination for an Academy Award.
What did The Exorcist do to Linda Blair?
While the role earned her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, it also became an inescapable source of frustration that ultimately hindered her career. The film’s legacy as one of the scariest movies ever made pales in comparison to the real-life horrors Linda Blair endured as a result of starring in it.
While the role earned her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, it also became an inescapable source of frustration that ultimately hindered her career.
Linda Blair endured a number of physical and emotional challenges on set. One particularly upsetting issue is the fact that Blair was haphazardly strapped to a mechanically rigged bed for one of the film’s terrifying possession scenes, which resulted in the young actress’s lower spine being fractured.
Even worse, the trauma of that moment was immortalized forever when the take of her incurring the injury made it into the final cut of the film.
This means that the crying and screaming we see at one point in the film are not the result of great acting, but are instead Blair’s genuine cries for help that went unanswered as the cameras kept rolling.