įriedkin began going to movies as a teenager, and has cited Citizen Kaneas one of his key influences. According to Friedkin, this was because of social promotion and not because he was bright. However he was not a serious student and barely received grades good enough to graduate, which he did at the age of 16.
He enrolled at Senn High School, where he played basketball well enough to consider turning professional. According to film historian Peter Biskind, 'Friedkin viewed his father with a mixture of affection and contempt for not making more of himself.' According to his memoir, The Friedkin Connection, Friedkin had the utmost affection for his father.įriedkin attended public schools in Chicago. Friedkin's father was somewhat uninterested in making money, and the family was generally lower middle class while he was growing up. His grandparents, parents, and other relatives fled Ukraine during a particularly violent anti-Jewish pogrom in 1903. His parents were Jewish emigrants from Ukraine. His mother, whom Friedkin called 'a saint', was an operating room registered nurse. His father was a semi-professional softball player, merchant seaman, and men's clothing salesman. Friedkin was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Rachael ( née Green) and Louis Friedkin.
