# Comic or good guy actors who made great villains **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767 "2008-07-25T19:28:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/21 "2008-07-26T00:37:05Z")
**Jim Carrey** as The Riddler in _Batman Forever_ is the main reason it’s my favorite among that particular Batman franchise. But the award goes to **Paul Williams** as Swan in _Phantom of the Paradise_ , with an honorable mention to his portrayal of Dr. Loveless, Jr. in the _Wild Wild West_ TV movie. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/22 "2008-07-26T00:39:33Z")
[QUOTE=Rocketeer] Don’t forget _Rio Bravo_ and _Support Your Local Sheriff_. [/QUOTE] But Stumpy wasn’t a bad guy in _Rio Bravo_ and his “bad guy” in _Sheriff_ was not particularly menacing (though admittedly hilarious). ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/23 "2008-07-26T00:40:42Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] And _Double Indemnity_. [/QUOTE] See Post #5 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/24 "2008-07-26T00:42:44Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] See Post #5 [/QUOTE] Well, duh. It’s _double_ indemnity. PS: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/25 "2008-07-26T00:55:58Z")
I wanted to do Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes, but since that’s already been taken, I’m going to go with Andy Griffith as Col. Ticonderoga. WAY evil. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/26 "2008-07-26T01:01:15Z")
Merv Griffin brought an uncharacteristic menace and depravity to _The Man with Two Brains._ Well, OK, no he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/27 "2008-07-26T01:03:46Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] **Jim Carrey** as The Riddler in _Batman Forever_ is the main reason it’s my favorite among that particular Batman franchise. [/QUOTE] I was going to sugest him too, but for his performance in Cable Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/28 "2008-07-26T01:07:51Z")
While Wilford Brimley usually played gruff curmudgeons, his characters were good-hearted, right? Not so much in _The Firm_. I thought he was awesome in that. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/29 "2008-07-26T02:48:33Z")
Telly Savalas played plenty of nasty bad guys before changing his image with **Kojak**. Same with Jack Elam – long history of playing bad guys, then changing his image around with **Support Your Local Sheriff**. People sometimes forget how great how great Humphrey Bogart was as a villain. People tend to like Derek Jacobi, especially for his work in **I, Claudius** , but he has been a very effective bad guy (giving the example I’m thinking of would be a spoiler). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/30 "2008-07-26T03:39:27Z")
John Leguizamo - Carlito’s Way, Spawn, Romeo + Juliet, etc John Lithgow - Cliffhanger ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/31 "2008-07-26T04:05:27Z")
I loved **Christopher Lloyd** ’s portrayal of **Kruge** in Star Trek III. For the first time here was a Klingon who wasn’t even the tiniest bit campy, he was just a human-hating, evil, murdering sociopath! He played a similar role in **Roger Rabbit**. He toned it down a little, but he was still pretty darn evil for what was essentially viewed as a kid’s movie. And although he’s pretty much made a career playing villains, the first thing I saw Malcolm McDowell in was Time After Time where he played a really likable, sympathetic H.G. Wells against David Warner’s evil Jack The Ripper. Then I saw him in Clockwork Orange. Eeek!! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/32 "2008-07-26T04:18:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Telly Savalas played plenty of nasty bad guys before changing his image with Kojak. > > Same with Jack Elam – long history of playing bad guys, then changing his image around with Support Your Local Sheriff. > > People sometimes forget how great how great Humphrey Bogart was as a villain. > > People tend to like Derek Jacobi, especially for his work in I, Claudius, but he has been a very effective bad guy (giving the example I’m thinking of would be a spoiler). Ben Affleck and Vince Vaughn were also cast as villains in the early films. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/33 "2008-07-26T04:32:00Z")
Arnie in the first _Terminator_. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/34 "2008-07-26T04:33:08Z")
John Ritter played a suitably creepy evil guy on an episode of BtVS. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/35 "2008-07-26T08:01:22Z")
Greg Kinnear in **Loser**. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/36 "2008-07-26T11:32:25Z")
[QUOTE=Chimera] John Ritter played a suitably creepy evil guy on an episode of BtVS. [/QUOTE] Oooh - and also in a Law & Order episode (possibly CI). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/37 "2008-07-26T13:33:39Z")
Rodney Dangerfield as the abusive father in Natural Born Killers: [after sending Mallory to her room] Ed Wilson: I’ll show her a little tenderness, after I eat. When I get up there, she won’t see my face for an hour. Gah! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767/38 "2008-07-26T13:52:48Z")
Michael Caine & Christopher Reeve in Ira Levin’s “Deathtrap.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-or-good-guy-actors-who-made-great-villains/457767.md?page=1)