Eileen Dietz

Eileen Dietz is an American actress who is best known for her appearances in many horror films such as the face of the demon in The Exorcist and for her portrayal of characters on the soap operas Guiding Light and General Hospital.

Eileen Dietz
Dietz in 2017
Other names	Eileen Dietz Elber Eileen Scott
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1963–present
Height	157 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Website	http://www.eileendietz.com

Early life and career

As a child, Dietz appeared in commercials with her twin sister Marianne DeFossey, and beginning at the age of 12 she started studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She made her television debut in 1963 in a small guest role on The Doctors. Shortly thereafter she landed a recurring role on the soap opera Love of Life. She made her film debut starring in the 1966 movie Teenage Gang Debs as Ellie. The following year she portrayed Penny Wohl in the critically acclaimed independent film David Holzman's Diary. The film never got much in the way of theatrical distribution despite having Dietz's nude scene featured in Life Magazine's photo spread and in the book of the film. She did not recall if she auditioned for the role of Penny but she added, "it was a fun shoot."^[1]

Dietz spent much of the late 1960s and early 1970s appearing in theatre productions. She notably appeared Off-Broadway as the Young Girl in the premiere of Bruce Jay Friedman's Steambath at the Truck and Warehouse Theater in 1970. In 1972, she portrayed an androgynous runaway in the premiere of Joyce Carol Oates' Ontological Proof of My Existence. Her portrayal in the play led to an invitation to do a screen test for The Exorcist. She was cast in two memorable roles in the film: Pazuzu the demon (better known as the face of death), and the 'possessed Regan' (the Linda Blair character) in some scenes. She performed in scenes that were too violent or disturbing for Blair to perform, including the crucifix scene and the fistfight with Father Karras.^{[2] [3]} She recalled that director William Friedkin gave her no notes and said, "I wasn't playing a little girl, I was playing the demon that possessed a little girl." Blair, who recalls Friedkin telling her the film would not succeed if she was not in as many shots as possible, estimates that Dietz is in 17 seconds of the film. Dietz, angry that her contribution to the film had been minimized, claimed in the media to have performed all the possession scenes. Warners ultimately measured her screen presence at 28.25 seconds, but denied that her contribution was dramatically significant.^[4]: 75

After The Exorcist, Dietz had a highly active career on television during the 1970s, appearing as a guest star on such shows as Planet of the Apes, Korg: 70,000 B.C., Barnaby Jones, and Happy Days among others. She also portrayed the recurring role of Linette Waterman in the soap opera The Guiding Light and appeared in the films You Light Up My Life (1977) and Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979).

In 1980, Dietz joined the cast of General Hospital as Sarah Abbott, a role she played for several years. She also appeared as a guest star on Trapper John, M.D. (1982) and in the horror film Freeway Maniac (1989). More recent film credits include Naked in the Cold Sun (1997), Hurricane Festival (1997), Bad Guys (2000), Exorcism (2003), The Mojo Cafe (2004), Neighborhood Watch (2005), Constantine (2005), Karla (2006), Creepshow III (2006), Dog Lover's Symphony (2006), and Tracing Cowboys (2008).

Dietz appeared as Winnie Gilmore in Halloween II (2009) in an uncredited role.

Dietz was cast in the thriller Eden Falls, co-written by Victor Miller, creator of Friday the 13th, and then slated for a 2017 release.^{[citation needed]} However, as of August 2020^[update], the project was still in development.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	Teenage Gang Debs	Ellie	Credited as Eileen Scott
1967	David Holzman's Diary	Penny Wohl
	The Game People Play		Credited as Eileen Scott
1973	The Exorcist	Pazuzu's face	Uncredited
1974	Road Movie
1977	You Light Up My Life	Bridesmaid
1979	Parts: The Clonus Horror	Dana
1989	Freeway Maniac	Costume Girl
1997	Naked in the Cold Sun	Sadie
	Hurricane Festival	Junkie
2000	Bad Guys	Bank Teller
	Left-Overs	—	Set director
2003	Exorcism	Evil Nurse
2004	The Mojo Cafe	Oscar	Short film
2005	Constantine	Zombie	Uncredited
	Neighborhood Watch	Mrs. Crews
2006	Karla	Helen	Uncredited
	Creepshow III	Claire The Homeless Woman	Segment: Call Girl direct-to-video
	Dog Lover's Symphony	Frightened Mother
2008	Tracing Cowboys	Marilyn
	She Turns Back and Faces Forward at Peace	Judy	Short film
2009	Sibling Rivalry	Mrs. Peters
	The Queen of Screams	Eleanor Maxwell
	Void	Helen	Short film
	Halloween II	Winnie Gilmore	Uncredited
2010	Kadís	Librarian	Short film
	Freeway Killer	Alice Bonin Benton
	Hookers for Jesus	Blanch	Short film
	Monsterpiece Theatre Volume 1	Nina	Segment: Rottentail
	Butterfly	Joy Greenstahl	also associate producer
	The Custom Mary	Mother	post-production
	See How They Run	Grace	post-production
	The Legend of the Mountain Witch	Creepy Lady	post-production
	Scream Queen Campfire	Ethel	Segment: Motherly Love
	Hallow Pointe	Fran
2011	Little Big Boy	Jimmy's Mother - middle aged
	Dead Girls Don't Cry	Diane Thomas	filming
	Stingy Jack	Esther Flower	pre-production
2012	Witches Playground		filming
2015	Fire Twister	Sadie - The Mountain Woman	Television film
2017	Eden Falls	Barbara	pre-production
2019	Itsy Bitsy	Sally	Post-production
2019	For We Are Many	Mrs. Vasile	Segment: The Damned Statue
2019	The Assent	Rhonda
2020	The Amityville Harvest	Mrs. O'Brian
2022	Staycation	Griselda E. Necromancer
2023	The Fearway	Old Woman
2023	Night of the Caregiver	Lillian Gresham
2023	Lady Dreadcore	Lady Dreadcore	Short film
2023	Las Vegas Frankenstein	Shopkeeper's Wife

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	The Doctors		Guest role
	Love of Life		Recurring role
1974	Korg: 70,000 B.C.	Sala
	Planet of the Apes	Jillia	Episode: The Good Seeds credited as Eileen Dietz Elber
1975	Barnaby Jones	Carol Deelon	Episode: Dangerous Summer
1976	Helter Skelter	Family Girl	Television film credited as Eileen Dietz Elber
	How to Break Up a Happy Divorce		Television film uncredited
1977	Happy Days	Rebecca	Episode: Time Capsule
1978	The Next Step Beyond		Episode: A Matter of Pride
	Guiding Light	Linette Waterman
1980–1981	General Hospital	Sarah Abbot
1982	Trapper John, M.D.	Sister Charity	Episode: The One and Only
2004	What Should You Do?	Vicki	Episodes: Bee Sting, Near Drowning
2005	Dante's Cove	Emily	Episodes: In the Beginning, Then There Was Darkness
2009	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!	Mother	Episode: Origins

References

1. "Interview with Eileen Dietz". Retrieved 2012-05-29.
2. ""We argued over the crucifix scene": what it was like being the demon in The Exorcist". New Statesman. February 5, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
3. "Exorcist Icon Eileen Dietz Dishes on "Of the Devil"". Rue Morgue. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
4. • Kermode, Mark (2003). The Exorcist. BFI Modern Classics (Revised 2nd ed.). British Film Institute. ISBN 978-0-85170-967-3.

External links

• Eileen Dietz at IMDb
• Eileen Dietz at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Official website