Linda Blair

Linda Blair was five years old at the time she became the first child actress to appear in The Exorcist. She had previously worked as a model over three years prior to her role as the child possessed, Regan. Linda soon rose to world fame and won the Golden Globe, and seemed poised to get an Academy Award for that role, but when it leaked how some parts of the role weren't performed by the actress herself (the vocals of the demon were dubbed in the voice of Mercedes McCambridge, and eight seconds of a stunt dummy were utilized) that dream broke, and with that disappointment was probably the initial blow that could have been the beginning of an A-list career. The next couple of years she had no trouble securing lead roles in a number of movies, including her highly successful television movies Born Innocent (1974) (the top TV film of the year) as well as Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) in addition to an Exorcist sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). She splurged on cocaine due to peer pressure at age 18, this led to her arrest and sentence of three years of probation. Linda was blocked by Hollywood in the wake of the well-publicized drug arrest. Her acting career was soon restricted to B movies and guest TV appearances.