When I was a kid, I met Anthony Ainley at a convention. Gave me his autograph all over a poster of Peter Davidson. Even wrote “HA HA HA”…
Awesome.
William B. Davis as CSM (The Smoking Man) in The X-Files.
Kathy Bates in Misery.
Gleeson plays Joffrey with enough madness in him to make him believable. That’s what happens when a psychopath is spoiled rotten then given a throne. There’s not a single redeeming quality in him.
LvC had such marvelous presence–I recently watched High Noon, in which he has, IIRC, not a single spoken line, yet there’s no mistaking him whenever he’s on screen.
Definitely agreeing with his acting in LA Confidential; he was one nasty MF.
In American Psycho he was almost the villain.
F. Murray Abraham in The Name of the Rose. He usually plays complex characters like Salieri in Amadeus. But I saw him in an interview where he said he relished his role as the Holy Inquisitor in the Name of the Rose, as his first chance to play an unmitigatedly evil-to-the-core character.
He certainly strikes modern people as evil, but an Inquisitor almost HAD to be a man completely convinced of his own righteousness.
The Inquisitor DID horrible things, but like Inspector Javert, he did evil in the belief that he was the good guy, and that the people he persecuted DESERVED it.
I was going to mention Mitchum for his performances in Cape Fear (very good) and Night of the Hunter (brilliant).
Lee Marvin played the thoroughly vile title character in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.
Henry Fonda played against type as the vicious villain in Once Upon a Time in the West.
Yeah, well, so did Hitler.
Orson Welles as Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil.
If you want to pick someone from that movie for this thread, it’s Ted Levine all the way; his schtick is passing himself off as low-key amiable, which is plenty less comic-book than what Hopkins is doing – but he’s clearly working at it, and whenever the mask slips he’s more than a little creepy. And when he drops the act – yeah, he ain’t holding back.
Strictly speaking, he played Liberty, not the man who shot him 
But I certainly agree with the nomination, Marvin never seemed to care about being likeable.
Thanks! I enjoyed that interview. Hauer was mesmerizing in The Hitcher, but even in fluffy comedies like Buffy the Vampire slayer he has that air about him. Lothos was so strong! He was able to make each bad guy work. No wonder Jennifer Jason Leigh gets Munchausen syndrome for him in Flesh & Blood.
Joffrey and the Boltons are the rare exception in the Westeros who have no redeeming qualities. I was shocked when I found myself warming to Jaimie.
He does Joffrey so brilliantly.
Jason Patric in Your Friends & Neighbors was downright chilling. I haven’t seen that movie since '98 when it came out. I’ll never forget the way he talked about raping that boy in gym class or screaming at Amy Brennenan for menstruating on his bed.
I did not know he had it in him since the only thing I’d known him from was The Lost Boys.
One of my all-time favourites, John Malkovich, has usually been characterised as playing a lot of villains but his stand-out roles for me weren’t baddies.
But “whole hog … truly dark, scary character(s) …” **aren’t **completely believable, are they? For every Richard III, there are thousands of Gordon Geckos, who honestly believe they are playing by the rules, just doing it better than every one else.
I find pure villains self-indulgent and unconvincing in dramas.
David Warner is so evil as Gul Madred in STNG: “Chain of Command” (he’s the Cardassian who tortures Jean Luc Picard) and as Jack the Ripper in Time After Time that I find him wholly unbelievable as Bob Cratchit in the George C. Scott A Christmas Carol.
I agree. I can’t watch that version without thinking, “watch your back, Scrooge! Bob is planning something!”
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.
Also, I’m as much to blame as anyone, but this thread is turning into way too much of a sausage fest, so let’s mention some women.
Some of my better ones.
Glen Close as the rutheless, amoral anti-hero Patti Hewes in Damages. I know some people might be surprised by my choice for roles rather than the vastly more famous iconic role as Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction, but I actually thought her role as Patty was better and deeper. Besides, I like dogs more than bunnies. She’d definitely be on this list for Fatal Attraction if not for Damages.
Polly Walker as Attia of the Julii from* Rome*.
Tricia Helfer as Six from Battlestar Galactica.
Madeleine Stowe as Victoria Grayson on Revenge.
Bridget Fonda playing completely against type in A Simple Plan.
Rebecca De Mornay in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns.
Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. Just the way she doesn’t even need to raise her voice to terrorize people and can destroy people with merely a look.