For the past 50 years, horror movie fans have been thrilled by The Exorcist, directed by the late William Friedkin and starring Linda Blair as the possessed girl Regan MacNeil. Blair became a cinematic icon for her role in the chilling film and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her universally acclaimed performance. While Blair has acted in plenty of film and television projects since, including reprising her role as Regan in this year's The Exorcist: Believer, she has worked extensively as a prominent animal rights activist, founding the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation in 2004, which operates to provide care to abused and abandoned animals, providing them with vital help and supportive adoptive homes.

In an exclusive interview with CBR, The Exorcist star Linda Blair reflected on working on The Exorcist and The Exorcist II: The Heretic, explained the mission and history of the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation, and revealed how people can help the foundation as its mission grows more important than ever.

CBR: I grew up in Washington D.C., and I still live in the area, walking up and down the Exorcist steps every Halloween. What memories do you have from filming The Exorcist in D.C.?

Linda Blair: There are two things that come to mind. I used to go there for the Washington International Horse Show. I think I qualified three times. That was an incredible, important, year-end horse show: There's Madison Square Garden, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. I qualified and was there a couple of times [after] being there for The Exorcist. We were staying at a hotel across from the stairs. I don't know if that hotel is still there, but I could look out and see them filming at night. When the stunt double fell down the stairs, and then Jason Miller was on the ground, I was there for that. Billy [Friedkin] wanted me to see, so maybe I could take that in as a young actor so that I could take in what happened to the character

We were lucky to see and get close to so many of the different monuments that not everybody gets a chance to see. How incredible what America was built on, like the Lincoln Memorial. What a treat! I was very lucky that I got to go to so many monuments. They left it all out of the movie, but we filmed at a lot of the monuments, just showing the relationship between Chris and her daughter Regan.

When I was 20, I had just done Roller Boogie, and I was in Washington and did my very first interview with Howard Stern. I am getting ready in my hotel room and hear him on the radio, and I am terrified. [laughs] He was just fine with me, and we became extremely good friends for a very long time. When he moved to New York, he became very powerful. He changed a lot, and the relationship took a different turn. He's apologized to a lot of people, and I think he's back on track again, and he's a pretty cool guy.

We lost William Friedkin earlier this year. He strikes me as someone who was very complicated and intense. What was your experience working with him on The Exorcist?

It's a wonderful question, and you're one of the few that has an interest in understanding the complexity of Billy. The other night on TV, they had The Exorcist, and I hadn't watched it in a long time. I thought, "Everybody talks to me about it. Let me just refresh." After the film, they showed a 30-minute documentary on Billy done in 1973, and that is the person I worked with, not the person other people maybe came to know 20–50 years later. He's extremely intelligent and articulate, and when he wants something a certain way, he was going to demand the best of the best.

His brain was very locked into how to bring this project to life, and that meant you needed the best special effects because there was no CGI back then. He needed the best of the makeup, and they worked three to six months on the makeup with the testing. It started as a full mask, and he got it down to be very minimal because he wanted the audience to always see Regan as me, not as Frankenstein or a different character where you couldn't see that it was me. He thought that was very important, so he pushed the effects to be the best, and that was hard to do on a child's face and to get it so minimal.

With the storyline and acting, we did an enormous amount of rehearsal. He would push me harder and harder and do things that brought me out of my comfort zone that I didn't enjoy. He was creating the character, which I didn't really understand. He wasn't sure what he could ask of a child, and he was determined not to use an adult that looked like a child. Many people thought Regan was supposed to be sickly, and that's why the demon would come in, but that's not what he wanted. I was the Cinderella girl and had done commercials as a very happy, healthy young child. He loved taking [that] and just destroying it. [laughs]

That was hard for me! The project took a very long time, and he was very intense. We did a lot of closed-door meetings, and he was very difficult with me. He was great with mother and great with everything. He had to walk a very fine line because I was a child, and what doesn't roll off a child's back? He knew my personality and character and that I wasn't going to quit, and I was not going to pout. He took a lot of chances with me, and he would tell me when he was going to do certain things with Jason, Max [von Sydow], and Ellen [Burstyn]. He let me know, and we had these conversations in private about what he was probably going to do and said, "This is what's going to be happening, and whatever happens, do not move. Do not come out of character."

That was my experience. It was very different. I look forward to writing about it in the future in my autobiography before too much time passes. It was very intense, and I don't think a lot of people could've withstood it. He was very intense, and adults like that, maybe for a child, it was a bit much, but he got the creation he needed, and it is a perfect production. You can see that there is not a mistake in it. He taught me things production-wise that hold up to this day like a flower cannot be out of place. He had a perfect eye and was an incredible genius. Thank God he found "Tubular Bells," which was in the garbage. The minute you hear that, you know.

I know you've talked about The Exorcist for 50 years, but I wanted to also talk to you about The Exorcist II: The Heretic. Martin Scorsese has gone on the record to say that he prefers The Exorcist II over the original. What are your memories of making The Exorcist II and working with John Boorman and Richard Burton?

They had been reaching out to us for years to do a Part II, and my mom and I were adamant that absolutely not. This is a long story, but my dad was on the train and worked in New York City. He's on the train, and somebody from Warner Bros. was there. How they got talking, who knows, but it became a personal request to at least engage in conversations outside of the agency, and that's how dialogue started. The project that I signed onto had Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, [and] John Boorman, who just won the Academy Award.

We felt like this was a major project, and the script was very good. It was not the script that we shot. John Boorman brought on a person named Rospo Pallenberg. To this day, I still don't know who Rospo was or why. There is a documentary about to come out on The Exorcist II. I did my part. He's interviewed everybody, and I think he's doing an incredible job. He said everybody said the same thing: "Who was Rospo Pallenberg?" We don't understand the connection. Rospo would rewrite storylines, and even the makeup and hair people were disturbed. They'd bring me this information saying they were going to make these changes that I needed to know so I could go in and address it, which I didn't do because it wouldn't have happened.

The project took a long time to film. To work with Richard Burton is one of the greatest honors of my life. I grew up with Richard Burton in Becket, Cleopatra and all that. It was Richard Burton! What an incredible time, experience, and memory. Louise Fletcher was very in-character, and later, when I got to know her better, she was totally different from that very intense, precise character. John was lovely, but he did rely on Rospo a lot.

I don't think it was the project that they really intended, and why the screenplay changed so much, I'm not really sure. I know that it was brought with an enormous amount of work, devotion, and dedication. We all did everything we could to make a project that would follow The Exorcist that people could engage, enjoy, and form different opinions, and that's what film is all about.

Linda, how did you get to animal welfare activism, and what has the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation been up to recently?

When I was young, with my mother and father being very compassionate people, whenever an animal was injured, we'd rally around to see what we could do. Could we help it or get it to a vet? What could be done? I was raised this way, and I was raised with cats. They were there through thick and thin, and as a child actor and model -- and that doesn't just mean in my business but any -- children are lonely. Parents are working, and that makes animals best friends because they'll do this and that with you and stay in your room with you when you're sick. That's why we have a good relationship with companion animals, and we know they're our best friends. They're with us outside and inside, and if you don't feel well, they're there to do whatever you want to do. They're your best friends through thick and thin.

When I did Born Innocent, I worked in New Mexico and rescued a dog off the street. I brought that dog home, and it lived its life with me. I did Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic when I was with Rick Springfield; with my mom, we were all family. I was filming in California. My brother was 17 or 18 and had a party at the house while Mom was with me, and somebody left the gates open to our backyard. My Jack Russell got out with my labrador, and they were seen all around Westport. The labrador they found dead by the side of the road and the Jack Russell -- they didn't tell me until I finished filming, and Rick and I flew back with Mom. We looked for weeks and weeks and heard about sightings.

That changed both Rick and I forever because it was an accident, but I never got my dog back. That started a movement with me because when you lose something and you have no control, it is devastating. Whether it's your family member or your friend, loss is loss. I've suffered a lot of loss in my life, both human and animal, and I know what it's like. That's what drives me to make a change and be involved. As the years went on, I became involved with Last Chance for Animals. They were a group that worked on animal welfare for all kinds of animals around the world and pet awareness. I did a calendar called "Animals and Their Celebrities" for pet awareness and traveled around the country promoting the calendar.

I started to engage in anti-puppy mill and anti-experimentation causes. We don't need to experiment on animals. We know the answer: Poison is poison, so let's not make those toxic products for anybody. When I was writing my book Going Vegan!, I had all my animals with me in 1997-1998. I moved back to California [and] did Grease on Broadway. I had lost my mother and my dog. I was in a really difficult time, but my dad was still alive, so he got to see me on Broadway. That meant a lot to me, and it always felt like Mom was with me. I had my rescue dog with me, and there was no doggy daycare, no dog walkers, nobody would help me. Here I am doing Grease on Broadway and walking my dog five miles a day.

I was exhausted, and I got back to California, and that's when a big pitbull followed me home. The press said they were killers, and there was an enormous amount of controversy and prejudice, but the dog's head was down, and his tail was gently wagging. I'm watching him in my front yard, went out, talked to him, and got to know him, and I realized that this was an animal that had probably been stolen, was damaged, and asking for help. I named him Sunny, and he was the dog that brought sunshine back to my life. He was one of the most incredible companions I could ever imagine. He would sniff a rose and look at me, like, "Don't forget to smell the flowers." I felt my mother through him, and that's why I started to fight as hard as I did for the animals and the pitbull breed.

That's why I went up to Sacramento to fight against the breed ban. I ended up with 51 dogs I hadn't intended on taking, but that's how I ended up buying this property. Along the way, there's all kinds of elements that made it so that I had a foundation where people believe, understand, and respect that I'm only going to tell you the truth. You know me from film, television, and stage and know what my dreams are. What I'm asking for the public and country to understand is that how you treat an animal is how you treat your neighbor, your friends and family,[or] a loved one. If you do not see love and compassion in a person, then you should be very skeptical of how they're going to react [to] humans and their actions towards others and their communities.

Animal lovers have a different compassion, and we want to be there for them as they are there to help us. It's just that, currently in our country, coming out of the pandemic, there are [fewer] veterinarians. They are coming out of school, and there are corporate jobs available in veterinary, but there are very [few] independent veterinarians. They're starting to leave the practices, and we are begging for veterinarians to come back on board to spay, neuter, and administer vaccinations [so] we can stop some of these diseases and illnesses that are happening with animals on the streets, in the desert, and overcrowding shelters. The shelters are only equipped for around 50 animals and then to return them home, but they can't right now, and they are drowning.

That's where rescue groups [come in]. We are the ones who come in as transporters [and] foster homes. This is all necessary volunteer help. Not everyone has a property, and it can be difficult to have a property for rescued animals. You may have neighbors who are not so compassionate, so you're fighting with them [and] trying to help in the shelters and help people understand. Ask people for help before abandoning animals, and if you do downsize, try to reach out and ask for help. Usually, if you put them in a shelter, they will lose their lives because there are just not enough homes anymore.

How can people best help out the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation?

We post mostly on our social media, which is @lindablairwf on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. I posted a video on Facebook about a week ago. The wish list changes all the time. Chewy, the pet food company, and Amazon have wish lists. On those wish lists, you'll find food. We need food constantly. Right now, during the holiday season, every rescue group needs funding for medical. Spaying and neutering are expensive. That's why we're trying to get veterinarians to understand, do the right thing, help, and not raise their pricing.

Our wish list is monetary so that we can get what we need for Winter. As we do so, we're going to get snow [and] cold temperatures, so we need dog jackets. We constantly need new crates, and the crates are mostly meant for sleeping and emergency evacuations. Food, water, we have to pay for electricity. We really need a new transportation vehicle. The last van that we have is on the older side. But our money is really going towards rescuing, food, and medical.

Some people enjoy giving something they choose, like a toy or food. We're looking for corporate support, for sure. Look for help in your own community, like blankets and towels, as people are cleaning out for the holidays. As you clean out your closet, give it to the animal rescues if you feel it can't go to Goodwill or a homeless shelter. Give to the rescues because we always need it.

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For more information on the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation, please check their website. Blair appears in The Exorcist: Believer, which is available to stream now on Peacock and can be purchased on DVD and Blu-Ray.