Mallory from Natural Born Killers
The mom from Flowers in the Attic–terrible movie but what a bitch!
Mrs. Hannigan in Annie 
I think SolGrundy nailed an important part of the evil female character. There’s almost always *betrayal * involved, betrayal of the victim, of course, but also a subtextual betrayal of their “female role”.
Mrs. Islin, Livia Augusta, and Nurse Rached.
I’m going to have bad dreams tonight.
Lilly Dillon (Anjelica Huston) in The Grifters.
Amy Irving? Did you mean Nancy Allen? Amy Irving played the girl who got her boyfriend to take Carrie to the prom. Yeah, she was in on the prank in the beginning, but she felt really bad about it and tried to atone. Nancy Allen played the superbitch who dumped the blood on Carrie.
Ursa Klebb in “From Russia, with love”
Any fan of the femme fatale MUST hunt down, by any means necessary, Leave Her to Heaven.
I second many of the nominations above–notably Mother Gin Sling, Leslie Crosbie, Regina Giddens–but none of the character mentioned so far has chilled me to the marrow like Gene Tierney’s portrayal of Ellen Berent in Leave Her to Heaven. Just to start with, she–drowns her husband’s crippled kid brother –because she didn’t want anyone competing for his love.
The movie’s an interesting experience in its own right as well: classic noir story, CLASSIC femme fatale, but filmed in the style of a big budget western: all glorious technicolor widescreen. This nasty little story–nastier and nastier–plays out against some of the most beautiful scenery (including Tierney at her most gloriously beautiful) ever captured on film.
Not available in letterbox, but worthwhile however you can get it.
Norma Desmond and Baby Jane Hudson were not evil—they were sad and insane and pathetic!
I vote for the Mother of Them All, Theda Bara’s man-killing Vampire in A Fool There Was (1915).
Theda had occurred to me too, Eve, but I wanted to focus just on Gene in my last post. Some other good ones that haven’t been mentioned yet: Jane Greer’s Kathie Moffatt in Out of the Past; Beryl Mercer’s Ma in The Public Enemy; Miss Barbara Stanwyck’s Martha Ivers in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers; Ann Savage’s Vera in Detour; Mary Tyler Moore’s Beth Jarrett in Ordinary People.
I second this one! She was the ultimate evil, no conscience, bitch.
Great Movie!
E3
Don’t forget the grandmother.
Huh? She was clueless, yes, but evil?
Am I misremembering Ma? Which of Cagney’s Ma’s played him off against his brother, and fed his criminal ambitions?
Mother was played by Victoria Tenant, and grandmother was played by Louise Fletcher, of Nurse Rached fame & Oscar.
This was my vote as well.
“But you *ARE * in that chair, Blanche!”
Yes but–the twist was that Jane turned out to be Blanche’s victim. So she wasn’t so bad after all.
Young Frankenstein - Frau Blücher
Neeeeeiiiiigghhhhhh
Ah! You’re thinking of Jimmy Cagney’s Ma from White Heat, not Public Enemy.
Thanks. Couldn’t remember which one, so I skimmed IMDb for Cagney movies with “Ma” in the cast; presumed the wrong one.
Livia Drusilla, without a doubt. The first name that popped into my head when I read the thread title. One character’s wry comment on Livia says it all: “They say a snake bit her once. And died.”
I would have to second Mrs. Iselin, though. I’ve hated Angela Landsbury ever since.
Well, given that it was made in 1945, I wouldn’t expect to find it in letterbox. Good choice, though (as are the picks for Stanwyck, Lansbury, Fiorentino, and Mieko Harada).
Others: Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) in Rebecca, Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret) in Diabolique, and Minnie Castavet (Ruth Gordon) in Rosemary’s Baby.