Damien Karras

Damien Karras
The Exorcist character
Actor Jason Miller as Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist
Created by	William Peter Blatty
Portrayed by	Jason Miller (films) Robert Glenister (BBC Radio)
Information
Nationality	American
Education	Catholic priesthood, Medical Doctor (M.D.), Board Certified Psychiatrist
Origin	Greece

Father Damien Karras, SJ is a fictional character from the novel The Exorcist, its sequel Legion, and their film adaptations.

In William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, Father Karras was one of the priests who exorcises the demon from young Regan MacNeil. He is a Jesuit psychiatrist suffering a crisis of faith. He searches for proof to lead an exorcism, yet during his investigation he comes to realize that there is no better way for God to prove His own existence than to reveal the foul presence of a demon. During the exorcism, the demon frequently brings up the subject of Karras's mother's death and how he wasn't there to see her die, which seems to trouble Karras emotionally.

Father Karras dies by throwing himself down a flight of stone steps in order to purge the demon from his own body after having coaxed it out of Regan's.

In the sequel, Legion, it is revealed that after the demon departed, another evil spirit invaded Karras's body. Karras was found wandering and amnesiac and was placed in the care of a mental hospital near Washington, D.C. While incarcerated there, the spirit suppresses Karras's personality and makes forays into the bodies of other patients in order to commit a series of ritual murders.

In the films The Exorcist and The Exorcist III, he is played by Jason Miller (who was in fact educated at the Jesuit University of Scranton).

Jack Nicholson was up for the part of Karras before Stacy Keach was hired by Blatty. According to Friedkin, Paul Newman also wanted to portray Karras. Friedkin then spotted Miller following a performance of Miller's play That Championship Season in New York. Even though Miller had never acted in a film, Keach's contract was bought out by Warner Brothers, and Miller was signed.