“That pornographic horror film I once did”

Den of Geek have published an article discussing people who have played themselves or performed their exact profession in feature films. It was pleasant to see Reverend William O’Malley get a mention for his role as Father Karras’ friend Father Dyer in The Exorcist. They open their section on O’Malley by discussing how he still screens The Exorcist once a year in the dorm rooms where the Karras/Dyer scenes were filmed at Fordham University, and he now refers to it as “that pornographic horror film I once did”. Read the full article here.

As explained in the documentary The Fear of God, O’Malley is also remembered for enduring the countless takes at the bottom of those steps, giving the dying Karras his last rights. Director William Friedkin became so frustrated he had to resort to slapping O’Malley hard across the face, upsetting the non-actor enough to finally get the desired emotion for a successful take.