Celebrity Nooz: Linda Blair

Linda Blair (Actress) as Regan - The Exorcist

Updated: 01/29/2006

Name: Linda Blair

Born: January 22, 1959 in St. Louis, Missouri

Claim To Fame: I think the role that will forever be associated with Linda Blair is that of Regan, the possessed child in, 'The Exorcist.' Which, for me, is the scariest movie ever made.

Family Life: Linda has never been married but she has had several high-profile relationships. One with Rick Springfield back in the 80's.

She also dated Rick James and Rick's 1983 hit, "Cold Blooded," was supposedly about his and Linda's brief romance.

And then she dated actor Wings Hauser.

Info: Linda started her career at the tender age of six, both as a model and in motion pictures. Out of 600 applicants she got picked for the role of Regan, the possessed child, in 'The Exorcist.' Linda seemed to be set to take the Academy Award for that role, but when it leaked how little of the possessed child she actually had been (dubbed voice by Mercedes McCambridge and liberal use of a dummy) that dream broke, and with that disappointment probably came the first blow to what should have been a sure road to stardom. Over the next few years she had no trouble finding leading roles in a number of pictures, mostly as some kind of abused child (13-year-old alcoholic, rape victim, to mention a few), but the early attention brought with it life in the fast lane and Linda, as quite a few others in recent years, hadn't had the time to learn how to handle it, and drugs, a stream of unsteady relationships and other factors almost brought her career to an end.

Trivia: Appeared in 75 commercials and hundreds of magazine catalogs by the time she was 12.

Received death threats after 'The Exorcist' premiered. Warner Brothers, the studio which released the film, hired the police to live with the Blair family for 6 months. The culprit was never caught.

Flew to Florida to attend funerals for members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, when an acquaintance convinced her to go with her and buy cocaine. Blair reportedly went because she was interested in buying pedigree puppies which the dealers were supposedly selling. Blair reportedly bought cocaine, and then returned to Connecticut.

She kept in touch with the dealers, supposedly because she wanted the puppies, but the Drug Enforcement Agency was tapping the phones. They arrested Blair, along with 30+ others, and charged her with conspiracy to buy the cocaine in Florida and sell it in Connecticut.

Police searched her purse, found amphetamines, and then charged her with possession. The possession charge was dropped, and the conspiracy charge was reduced. She received 3 years probation.

Is a vegan.

Owns her own clothing line called Linda Blair's Wild West Collection.

Did all of her own skating in Roller Boogie.

Has chickens and horses as pets in her home.

Linda has won numerous awards for her work as an animal rights activist from organizations such as P.E.T.A. and Linda also lends her name to helping stop animal abuse all over the world.

One of Linda's pet dogs was stolen from her and ever since she has become involved with stopping animal/pet theft.

She's written a book about veganism called "Going Vegan!".

Her frightening turn as Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist (1973) was ranked #9 on the American Film Institute's villains list of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.

Won the Presidential Fitness Award during her early teens.

Where Are They Now: Linda is still acting. The roles are just not as plentiful as they used to be. She recently completed the film, 'All Is Normal.'

Back in the 90's Linda won wide acclaim for her performance in the stage revival of 'Grease.'

Linda Blair has long been active in charities involving prevention of cruelty to animals such as PETA. She also started her own charity, The Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation. Here is it's charter:

Benefiting Human and Animal Welfare, World Heart is the lifetime dream of Linda Blair to create a Community of which the goals are to improve the quality of life for people and animals alike.

The website for her foundation is:
www.lindablairworldheart.com

She spends most of her time, when she's not acting, working and promoting this foundation. In 2005 she personally worked to save, rescue and reunite many of the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina.

After 'The Blair Witch Project' became a hit, a writer came up and presented to Linda the idea of creating, 'The Blair Bitch Project." You can get more info on this by visiting: www.blairbitch.com

Write To Linda Blair:
Linda Blair
4727 Wilshire Blvd Ste 333
Los Angeles, CA 90010-3874

Official Website: www.lindablair.com

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