# Actors who embrace the evil of their character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660 "2014-01-01T21:00:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/121 "2014-04-02T00:35:10Z")
Vincent Price in _The Conqueror Worm_. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/122 "2014-04-02T00:37:37Z")
I also enjoyed Bonham-Carter in _Sweeny Todd_ and as Morgana Le Fey (“All beauty is an illusion”). I even liked Wonderland in part because of her wonderful Red Queen. She is a villain worthy of a Disney Queen. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/123 "2014-04-02T04:26:57Z")
Alec Baldwin in _Malice_ - if you’re looking for God, he was in operating room number two on November 17, and he doesn’t like to be second guessed. You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something: I am God. Michael Keaton - Pacific Heights Michael Fassbender - 12 Years A Slave ---
**Author:** ![HyacinthBucket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hyacinthbucket/32/3063_2.png) [@HyacinthBucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HyacinthBucket)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/124 "2014-04-02T05:11:19Z")
**Sian Phillips** as Livia in **I, Claudius**. Any time she would fix that basilisk gaze of hers on anyone who stood between her son Tiberius and the throne, [spoiler]that person’s death warrant was written in her eyes and on her face. There’s a great “shop talk” scene with her and a professional poisoner when they compared notes on which poisons were the most effective and undetectable, and the dawning realization on the pro’s face when she realized Livia might be poisoning her as well. What really struck me was her last request to Claudius, when she’s an old, frail woman who knows she’s dying and knows exactly how many deaths she has on her hands. She begs Claudius to promise her that when he becomes Emperor he’ll declare her a goddess, because otherwise she knows she’ll burn in Hades for all eternity. Even knowing all the deaths and all the evil she had caused, you actually felt sorry for her. It was a brilliant, chilling, unforgettable performance. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/125 "2014-04-02T06:40:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > Chiwitel Ejiofor in _Serenity_ Damn he was good in that, but more because he was an Interesting Character. Not so much evil. He didn’t seem to take pleasure in killing. His, ‘fall on your sword’ routine was rough, but had a reason behind it - they had failed, and they should die in a fashion that admitted that failure, even if he has to help them along. I think he was a highly moral man with bent morals. He felt that killing a few dozen men, woman and children was worth it to ‘make a better world’. It wasn’t even a better world of his imagining. He was just working to make society better, according to his superiors. He didn’t even think there was a place for him in the better world, so he was working, sacrificing, to make a work he neither created nor could live in. But yeah, he was great in that role. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/126 "2014-04-02T07:08:04Z")
Gert Fröbe (Goldfinger) as a serial killer in “It happened in broad daylight”. ---
**Author:** ![FasterThanMeerkats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@FasterThanMeerkats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FasterThanMeerkats)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/127 "2014-04-02T10:59:21Z")
> [@somepumpkin](#): > > I think Willem Dafoe always plays a great villain, and certainly has the looks for the part. Agreed. He’s got some really good non-villain roles, but they’re always a little odd (_Platoon, Patriot Games_). Villain roles seem to fit him like a glove. Just saw _Grand Budapest Hote_l and he’s great (though getting older). ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/128 "2014-04-02T16:00:25Z")
Klaus Kinski could really channel evil on-screen, nowhere more so than in _ **Aguirre: The Wrath of God** _. Apparently he was just as malevolent as his character on set when the cameras weren’t rolling. Glenn Close was brought up earlier for _ **Damages** _ and _ **Fatal Attraction** _; her portrayal of the Marquise de Merteuil in _ **Dangerous Liaisons** _ is also memorable. ---
**Author:** ![dzray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@dzray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzray)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/129 "2014-04-02T16:59:29Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > As long as this thread is active again, I should mention one I forgot, a performance that stands as truly holding nothing back in order to present us with a scary, twisted, complete madman: Ben Kingsley as Don Logan in 2000’s _Sexy Beast_. Thirded. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/130 "2014-04-02T18:27:37Z")
Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth in **Blue Velvet.** Gregory Peck as Josef Mengele in **The Boys From Brazil** ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/131 "2014-04-02T18:57:48Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > One of my favorite underrated actors, Robert Knepper plays almost nothing but villains and he’s fantastic at them. > > T-Bag from Prison Break was one of my all-time favorite villains and he did that despite being constrained by network rules which dramatically limited what he could do and say. > > Damn, what he could’ve done if that show had been on HBO or Showtime. Ditto on this , I was squirming any time he was on wondering what nastiness he was about to do. Also ditto on Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast Finally Dennis Hopper in Paris Trout he does not hold back on playing an utterly despicable person without hamming it up. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/132 "2014-04-02T23:35:16Z")
Michael Pitt in Funny Games Anthony Anderson as Antoine Mitchell in The Shield ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/133 "2014-04-02T23:42:10Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Cyril Cusack played the best baddies is films like \*\*Farenheit 451, 1984, \*\*and **The Day of the Jackal** because instead of scenery-chewing maniacal, he was always brought a weary resignation “time to make the donuts” attitude that is more consistent with the actual sons of bitches we meet in life. See [Punch Clock Villain.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PunchClockVillain) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/135 "2014-04-03T09:35:27Z")
_N_thing Joffrey in Game of Thrones. Man, he is hateable. He plays that role with a tightly-wound, malevolent energy that makes the character a human crossbow. Even he has moments of humanity (spoilers for TV and books): He seemed genuinely upset when his “father” died, and I think he was totally into Margaery, seeing her as someone he could truly be evil with. If they’d stayed together he would have totally fallen for her - he’d still have killed her at some point, but he would have been sad about it. But that doesn’t detract from his evilness, it just shows that the actor can do more than simple evil. I’d like to add Richard Burton in 1984. You truly believed that there would be a boot on the face of humanity forever, and he would be one of the ones weilding that boot. Not because he enjoyed it, but because he just was. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/136 "2014-04-03T10:46:31Z")
…[Raul Julia](http://youtu.be/qzl3uvkkmmo?t=39s)? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660/137 "2014-04-03T12:43:12Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Clancy Brown as Kurgan in Highlander . This. The [entire church sequence](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvnq_W0i3Bs) was fantastic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-embrace-the-evil-of-their-character/677660.md?page=6)