Veteran actor Max von Sydow portrays which Roman Catholic priest in Hollywood's 1973 film "The Exorcist"?

"The Exorcist" is a 1973 American supernatural horror film produced and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty and is based on his 1971 novel of the same name.

The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, and others. It follows the demonic possession of 12-year-old Regan (Linda Blair) and her mother's attempt to rescue her through an exorcism conducted by two Roman Catholic priests.

It opens with scenes of Father Merrin, an elderly cleric and paleontologist, who finds a sculpture of the demon Pazuzu while on an archeological dig in Iraq. He had previously faced the demon many years before during an exorcism in Africa and is familiar with it. The find sparks a premonition that he will battle the demon again in a distant land.

Merrin appears again later in the film, when he joins fellow protagonist, Father Damien Karras, in Washington, D.C. to exorcise the demon from the body of Regan. He has a heart condition for which he takes nitroglycerin and dies during the ritual, leaving the inexperienced Karras to complete the exorcism himself.

Father Merrin is portrayed by the great Swedish-French film and stage actor Max von Sydow (1929-2020). The tall, gaunt and imposing von Sydow had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre. He died in 2020 at his home in Provence, France; no cause was given.