Kharis

Kharis
The Mummy character
The changing face of Kharis: Lon Chaney's mask-like countenance in The Mummy's Ghost (1944) is considerably less gruesome than his previous appearance in The Mummy's Tomb (1942) and endures as the most familiar image of the character.
First appearance	The Mummy's Hand
Portrayed by	Tom Tyler (1940) Lon Chaney, Jr. (1942-1944)
Information
Species	Mummy
Gender	Male
Religion	Ancient Egyptian religion
Nationality	Egyptian

Kharis is a fictional character featured in Universal Studios's Mummy series in the 1940s following their original 1932 film The Mummy, which starred Boris Karloff as a different mummy character, Imhotep, though their backstories are practically identical. Universal's Mummy films were inspired by worldwide interest in Egyptian archeology during the first half of the twentieth century.

In the first Kharis film, The Mummy's Hand (1940), the character was played by Western-film actor Tom Tyler, while the three subsequent films, The Mummy's Tomb (1942), The Mummy's Ghost (1944), and The Mummy's Curse (also 1944), starred Lon Chaney, Jr. in the role. Although the iconic image of the mummy's face is usually Karloff's, the Kharis films are responsible for the enduring stereotype of the lumbering, foot-dragging monster, as Karloff's bandaged creation is seen only briefly while Kharis is a major on-screen character in all four follow-up films. The Kharis movies also introduce the notion of tana leaves as integral to the mummy's survival.

The Mummy's Hand introduces Kharis in a series of flashbacks that are pulled from the original 1932 film except for inserts with Tyler replacing shots in which Karloff would have been conspicuous. The original film's ancient-Egypt scenes tell the story of the high priest Imhotep, who is punished for attempting to resurrect a dead lover, while in the Kharis films the identities and details of this story are simply changed to describe a similar but alternate scenario. For this reason, the Kharis films are not sequels to the original, as occasionally misperceived.

Christopher Lee portrayed Kharis in the 1959 Hammer horror film The Mummy.