Nearly 40 years after channelling Satan for her Oscar-nominated performance as Regan, the girl whose demonic possession ignited the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist, Linda Blair is doing just fine, thank you.
At age 53, Blair gets her fulfilment doing what she's always wanted to do caring for animals. It's a passion her mother told her apple-cheeked daughter long ago that acting could give her the freedom to pursue.
Although she'll forever be identified with William Friedkin's fright flick, it's the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation, her non-profit charity that rescues abused and neglected animals in Los Angeles, that possesses the animal rights activist now.
"I wanted to become a 'doctor for animals,' " said Blair, recalling how she wanted to quit showbiz to study at Cornell and become a veterinarian before The Exorcist changed all that.
Although she had done commercials since age six, made her feature debut in The Way We Live Now (1970) and appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, The Exorcist triggered another kind of torment a lifetime of questions about it.
Blair said it's something she's learned to live with since noticing fans would get angry when certain celebrities avoided questions about projects they were best known for, and she didn't want to upset hers.
"I asked the same questions everyone else asks," said Blair, recalling her first meeting with Friedkin after her mother read William Peter Blatty's 1971 bestseller. "How does she levitate? How does everything fly around the room? How does she become a monster? Try explaining that to a child. Billy told us 'Those are special effects you don't even have to worry about.' "
The actor and author (Going Vegan) will reminisce during a Q&A before tonight's Victoria Film Festival screening of The Exorcist. She will also be available at an intimate meet-and-greet fundraiser for her charity Saturday at 4 p.m., at Bon Rouge restaurant.
She said she'll never forget the day she met casting director Juliet Taylor and was asked to read some racy dialogue.
"I said, 'Holy moly, what a bunch of crazy people they are,' " she said, laughing. " 'I don't think I better tell my mom.' But then we got the call to meet Billy and he treated her with great respect. They had a very close relationship."
Blair, whose other credits include Born Innocent, Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic and Airport 75, said no one anticipated how controversial The Exorcist would be.
"The church, the fear, the worldwide frenzy was too much for anybody, let alone a young person," she said. "Warners toured me around the world, and I was not enjoying this. There was no glamour and love. The business machine put me to work."
The sensitive actress took exception to the media fallout. Allegations she was rebellious, "hung out with rock 'n' rollers" and was mentally unstable were untrue because of her wholesome upbringing, she said.
"I wouldn't be who I am today without it," she maintains. "I had an amazingly grounded life in Connecticut and developed a great love of animals there."
She said it helped that her mother ensured she got ample "family time and animal time" to offset the rigours of filming.
"Billy pushed everyone every day," she said. "But it's what he had to do or the film wouldn't be what it is."
It was a fascinating learning experience, recalled the actress whose character projectile-vomits green bile, incurs body wounds, spins her head and hurls obscenities in the demon's electronically manipulated voice dubbed by Mercedes McCambridge.
"Everyone involved in making the film were the best of the best," recalled Blair, who encourages fans to check out an "eye-opening" documentary with the remastered Blu-Ray release that she was initially reluctant to do until Warner Bros. beseeched her. It incorporates footage of the dummy used for visual effects, her giggling younger self in makeup and other bonuses.
"When I saw the finished product I cried," she said.
It was after someone stole Sheba, Blair's beloved Jack Russell, from her bungalow in Hollywood while she was in a production of Women Behind Bars that she became actively involved in animal welfare.
"I was devastated. I talked to People, even National Enquirer and I hosted a show with Regis [Philbin].
"That's how bad I wanted her back," recalled Blair, who later teamed with Chris DeRose, a former New York cop and founder of Last Chance for Animals. She travelled the world and worked with DeRose's organization and others before starting her own.
She purchased its modest property containing a house and two horse corrals in Acton, California, to accommodate animals rescued during a "devastating" mission after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, where she helped evacuate 350 animals in four days.
Blair, who has also worked with PETA, Feed the Children and Variety, said it's lamentable shelters have become overpopulated "dumping grounds" for unwanted pets.
The crusader against animal cruelty is also a critic of breed-specific bans, puppy farms, backyard breeders and lack of enforcement of spay and neuter programs.
And don't get her started on illegal dogfights, like those involving U.S. football player Michael Vick that Last Chance for Animals uncovered.
"I actually needed Michael Vick to prove my point that our so-called American idols are not for the benefit of all."
Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation website:
http://www.lindablairworldheart.org/
