Peter Masterson Biography

Actor, writer, producer and director Peter Masterston is best known for his adaptation of Larry L. King's "Playboy" magazine article "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)" into a smash Broadway musical, for which he received two Tony nominations. He also was the screenwriter of the underwhelming 1982 film adaptation that starred Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. Masterston complained that Reynolds, then in full-superstar status, had tinkered with the character and dialog of the sheriff to make him more like Reynolds' own persona, thus fatally flawing the film. Before hitting it big with "Whorehouse", Masterston had an unspectacular career as an actor beginning in the mid-1960s and continuing through the mid-'80s, when he shifted his attentions towards directing with The Trip to Bountiful (1985). The film, which was adapted by Masterston's cousin Horton Foote from Foote's own play, was a success, earning Geraldine Page the Academy Award as Best Actress.

• 1. Clinic Director: There is one outside chance for a cure. I think of it as shock treatment as I said, it's a very outside chance. Have you ever heard of exorcism? Well, it's a stylized ritual in which the rabbi or the priest try to drive out the so-called invading spirit. It's been pretty much discarded these days except by the Catholics who keep it in the closet as a sort of an embarrassment, but uh, it has worked. In fact, although not for the reasons they think, of course. It's purely a force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession is what helped cause it, so in that same way, a belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear.
  2. Chris MacNeil: You're telling me that I should take my daughter to a witch doctor? Is that it?
  From The Exorcist. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)