Linda Blair, who was barely five at the time, was able been conditioned to be at the center of attention. In the beginning, she was a child model before becoming an actor, she was chosen for the role of Regan the girl who was possessed, from a pool of over 600 applicants, in The Exorcist, (1973). Linda rapidly gained worldwide fame, was awarded the Golden Globe, and seemed poised to get the Academy Award for that role until it became known that certain parts of the role were not performed by her (the demonic voice was dubbed with Mercedes McCambridge, and eight seconds of a stunt dummy employed) the film was cancelled in disappointment, which probably came the first blow that could have been the start of a successful career. In the following years, Linda was not a problem securing leads in a wide range of movies, including the highly successful television films Born Innocent (1974) (the #1 TV movie of that year) as well as Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) along with her role in the Exorcist sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). After she snagged cocaine due to peer pressure at age 18, this led to being arrested and sentenced to three years probation. This highly-publicized drug bust led Linda to be blacklisted by Hollywood which slowed her progress. Her film career soon slowed down to B-movies, and occasionally TV guest appearances.
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