December 26, 1973: The horror film The Exorcist premieres, based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty. It wasn't quite as scary as what President Richard Nixon had been doing the last 5 years, but it was close.
The story takes place in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is an actress with a 12-year-old daughter named Regan (Linda Blair). She becomes violent, but doctors can find nothing physically wrong. A demon named Pazuzu (voiced by Mercedes McCambridge) possesses Regan, and claims to be the Devil, and that she will remain in possession of Reagan until Regan's body dies a natural death.
A Catholic ceremony called an exorcism is called for. It is performed by Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Father Lanester Merrin (Max von Sydow). Merrin dies in the attempt, and Karras physically beats Regan, demanding that the demon take him instead. It works, and Karras hurls himself out the window to his death, leaving Regan free.
The Exorcist became the 1st horror film nominated for Best Picture. This was 1 of 10 awards for which it was nominated, also including Best Director for Friedkin, Burstyn as Best Actress, and Blair was Best Supporting Actress. But it won only 2: Best Adapted Screenplay for Blatty, and Best Sound for Robert Knudson and Chris Newman.
Blair, who turned 14 a month after the film's premiere, ended up typecast in "troubled teen" roles, including a 1977 sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic. By 1979, she had grown out of those roles, and played adult roles in horror and exploitation films throughout the 1980s. She starred with Leslie Nielsen in the 1990 parody film Repossessed, and had an uncredited role as a reporter in the 1996 horror tribute Scream.
In 2022, at age 63, she is an animal-rights activist, running a ranch outside Los Angeles, which serves as a sanctuary for formerly abused animals, and has published a vegan cookbook.
*
December 26, 1973 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between rounds of its Playoffs. There were 7 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 96-91 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.
* The Capital Bullets -- the name the Washington Bullets, now Wizards, used only for their 1st season in the D.C. area -- beat the Chicago Bulls, 82-81 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 145-118 at The Omni in Atlanta. Lou Hudson scored 35 points for the Hawks.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Buffalo Braves, 125-123 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Garfield Heard scored 36 points and grabbed 17 rebounds for the Braves, to no avail.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 123-110 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 38 points.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 110-95 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 129-105 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
There were 5 games played in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets lost to the Carolina Cougars, 105-95 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 32 points in defeat.
* The Virginia Squires beat the Denver Rockets, 118-113 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.
* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Indiana Pacers, 106-78 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
* The Memphis Tams beat the San Antonio Spurs, 96-95 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.
* And the Utah Stars beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 102-98 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. This was Wilt Chamberlain's only season as a professional head coach, and he wanted to play for San Diego as well, but a court ruled that his contract meant that, in this season, he could only play for the Lakers. After the season, he resigned as coach and retired as a player.
There were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Minnesota North Stars, 1-0 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat their arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 9-2 at Maple leaf Gardens in Toronto. Lanny McDonald was the only Leaf with 2 goals.
* The Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins played to a tie, 2-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago Black Hawks and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 3-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the California Golden Seals, 6-4 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
* And the Boston Bruins, the St. Louis Blues, the Buffalo Sabres and the Atlanta Flames were not scheduled.
And there were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:
* The Vancouver Blazers beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 5-3 at the Cleveland Arena.
* The New England Whalers beat the Houston Aeros, 3-2 in overtime at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.
* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.
No comments:
Post a Comment