# \_\_\_\_\_\_ never plays a villain, except in \_\_\_\_\_\_ **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771 "2009-07-21T20:09:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/61 "2009-07-22T20:11:33Z")
Jim Carrey? I didn’t see Number 23 but that looks like he might. Do his other films come close? Cable guy? Does The Grinch count? ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/62 "2009-07-22T20:13:16Z")
No, Carrey was the Riddler in a Batman. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/63 "2009-07-22T20:18:50Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > Michael Keaton was also pretty villainous in Desperate Measures. Also _Pacific Heights_ ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/64 "2009-07-22T20:19:59Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > Jim Carrey? > > I didn’t see Number 23 but that looks like he might. > > Do his other films come close? Cable guy? > > Does The Grinch count? - The Dead Pool\* Gah I watch too many movies. ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/65 "2009-07-22T20:22:01Z")
I think George Lindsey (the guy who played Goober Pyle), played a bigoted deputy sheriff on an episode of The Twilight Zone. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/66 "2009-07-22T20:25:16Z")
James Van Der Beek just played a villain on _Criminal Minds_. Has he done that before/since? Sandra Bullock in _Crash_? Ryan Gosling in _Murder by Numbers_? Harry Connick Jr in _Copycat_? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/67 "2009-07-22T20:33:49Z")
Has Alan Alda been a villain in anything other than _The Aviator_? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/68 "2009-07-22T20:45:52Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Has Alan Alda been a villain in anything other than _The Aviator_? Wasn’t he also the villain in “Murder at 1600 Pennsilvania Avenue?” ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/69 "2009-07-22T20:46:43Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Has Alan Alda been a villain in anything other than _The Aviator_? _Murder at 1600_, though since it’s a murder mystery it isn’t revealed until the end. ISTR another murder mystery where he gets killed with a pickaxe on the beach at the end, but imdb isn’t helping me out. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/70 "2009-07-22T20:53:54Z")
Found it - _Whispers in the Dark_, another murder mystery where we don’t find out Alda’s the killer until the end. Here’s a [description](http://books.google.com/books?id=bnjFwMu7wtQC&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=alan+alda+pickax&source=bl&ots=6PNeWm8d0O&sig=OBYTP6cA7WGimm4C4_s_tkpFKik&hl=en&ei=intnSp3uA9HAlAevnZndDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1) (straight from Alda) of the beach & pickaxe scene. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/71 "2009-07-22T21:05:52Z")
My contribution for people who played a villain only once in a movie is Ronald Reagan in “The Killers.” ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/72 "2009-07-22T21:20:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Has Jackie Chan ever played a villain? Aside from being a bad guy extra in Enter the Dragon, looking through the dozens of movies I’ve seen I can’t find any villain roles. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/73 "2009-07-22T21:51:48Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I remember **Eddie Albert** as a good guy, probably mostly from _Green Acres_, but he was a definite villain in the original _The Longest Yard_. He was also the laziest COLUMBO villain ever. If you want an episode where the killer sets up an alibi before making it look like a heart attack or a suicide or whatever, that’s fine; if you want the body hidden so well that no one can prove the guy is even dead, hey, that’s fine too. And if you want a guy who makes sure no one’s around while he’s framing someone else, maybe try the one where Robert Culp untraceably screws with camera footage after hiding the murder weapon and lining up a room full of witnesses who’ll swear he was nowhere near the crime scene. This guy, though, simply shot his victim in broad daylight; anyone could’ve seen 'em, and somebody did; she promptly called the police. Eddie admittedly does a half-assed job of hiding the body, but the cops find it without our hero’s help; I’m not sure they need a murder weapon to get a conviction at that point, but Columbo finds it anyway: it’s right there in plain sight, after all, since, hey, why bother hiding it when you can just start telling people it’s a toy replica of a real gun, right? ---
**Author:** ![Mannish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mannish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mannish)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/74 "2009-07-22T21:56:27Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > Samuel Jackson also played a villain in **Coming to America** - he plays a robber who gets taken out by Eddie Murphy. And speaking of Eddie Murphy, he plays a villian in Vampire in Brooklyn…I don’t think he’s ever done that before or since. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/75 "2009-07-22T22:19:55Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > My contribution for people who played a villain only once in a movie is Ronald Reagan in “The Killers.” [Ahem…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11363926&postcount=30) ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/76 "2009-07-22T22:54:52Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > [Ahem…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11363926&postcount=30) Sorry, saw the first part, but did not catch the second. ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/77 "2009-07-22T22:59:50Z")
Didn’t Chuck Norris play a bad guy in Enter the Dragon? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/78 "2009-07-23T00:04:44Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > In _The One_, he plays both the hero, and his own evil, extra-dimension twin. > > I haven’t seen it, but I think he was also the villain in _Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor_. At least, the IMDB lists him as playing “Emperor Han” in that one. Could have been more than one emperor in the film, though. > > Has Jackie Chan ever played a villain? Jet Li was the “villain” in hero, if you consider “guy opposed to a murderous tyrant” to be a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/79 "2009-07-23T12:52:18Z")
> [@kitemaker\_chuck](#): > > Didn’t Chuck Norris play a bad guy in Enter the Dragon? Almost- he was the bad guy in _Way of the Dragon_, which was released in the U.S. as _Return of the Dragon_. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771/80 "2009-07-23T13:32:00Z")
Jim carrey in the cable guy Matt Damon as the The Talented Mr. Ripley [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/______-never-plays-a-villain-except-in-______/503771.md?page=5)