William Peter Blatty became friends with actress Tippi Hedren in the early 1970s, and she named one of her lions Billy after him. He gave her a copy of his unpublished novel "The Exorcist" and she was so absorbed reading it, that she woke up her then-husband, an agent Noel Marshall, in the middle of the night and told him that he should represent Blatty in publishing the novel and the film adaptation. She took the photo of the author for the first edition novel's back jacket. The 1971 novel became a bestseller and Marshall would be credited as 'Executive Producer' for the film adaptation, also titled "The Exorcist", where he was supposed to receive 15% of the profits. When the film became a blockbuster, Blatty refused to give the profits, since he never signed the written contract, but only initiated it. Marshall sued and the lawsuit dragged on for several years eventually reaching an out-of-court settlement. These were trying years for Hedren and Marshall since they needed the money to feed the big cats for their film Il grande ruggito (1981), the financial stress would result in their divorce. Many years later, Blatty ran into Hedren at a party and said Hi. She walked away from him, without acknowledging him.

Film

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