Child-roasting, assault-victim-procuring, old-lady-bludgeoning Iris Crowe from Carnivale. The things one does for love…
Saffron from Firefly. She’s just a girl trying to get by with nothing but a complete lack of morals and Christina Hendricks’s face and body.
Another vote for Poison Ivy.
Doesn’t matter how she is portrayed, she is pure sex. Of all the crushes I had a 14yo, that one has stayed.
Oh man, how did I forget Azula from Avatar?
Irina Derevko from “Alias”. Her sisters Katya and Elena were pretty shady too.
I had a flicker of sympathy when Otto banged her up in the prison interview room but by the time she came to the end of the road in season 3, well…no mercy.
Otto has gotten plenty of good scenes! Sutter does a great job of writing himself into the show. Ever wonder what he and Katey talk about other than the show?
I actually was coming in to say her.. I hate her so very much,
Another good one. I hate her too. Both these characters fill me with pure revulsion. Brrrr.
“Milady” from The three Musketeers. Faye Dunaway did the best movie version. Actually, I like Rebecca deMornay better in the role, but her movie of it was so awful I’m going with Faye.
“Wilhelmina Slater,” from Ugly Betty, the role Vanessa Williams was created to play.
But the more Evil Mrs Danvers was played by Judith Anderson in Hitchcock’s 1939 version.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Wicked Queen in Disney’s SNOW WHITE.
Came in to nominate her. The absolutely irrepressible Siân Phillips. If they were ever to remake the series, Livia could only be recast with Tilda Swinton.
Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon
Irina Spalko in Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Bellatrix LeStrange in the Harry Potter movies
I always liked Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development. Very understated, very evil.
And after thinking it over, I’d better add:
Maria from Aunt Maria, by Diana Wynne Jones
Tanya von Shrakenberg from Under the Yoke, by S.M. Stirling
The Warden, from Holes, by Louis Sachar
Baroness Ceausescu, from A Princess of Roumania, by Paul Park
and a classic:
Miss Minchin, from A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Also, while up to now I’ve been sticking to literature, I can’t help but mention Lois’ mother from Malcolm in the Middle, as played by Chloris Leachman.
The evil Queen Achren from the Chronicles of Prydain.
And Tilda Swinton’s White Witch is a tour de force in scornful scenery-chewing even if her scheming leaves something to be desired.
I heartily endorse Dolores Umbridge as well.
This is who I came in to mention, and I see after your nomination there were a number of others!
No mention of Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) from Glee?
Cathrine Tramell (Sharon Stone) - Basic Instinct
Xena Onnatop (Famke Jansen) - Goldeneye
Lori “Considah that a divorce” Quaid (Sharon Stone) - Total Recall
She’s not the villian. She’s a female antihero protagonist.
The rest of the gals were great villains though! Especially Lucy Lui.
Mallory Archer!
Off topicish, but is Mom from Futurama supposed to be a nod to Mom the evil pimp from Doctor Detroit? Same mannarisms. Same pair of weird bald henchmen wearing what look like vallet uniforms.
Almost forgot. Not necessarily a “villain”, but Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol) had a bit of a mean streak in her in Boardwalk Empire.
Another vote for Dolores Umbridge, and while we’re at it, Bellatrix LeStrange.
I wanted to pop both their heads off, which in my mind makes them effective villaiins. 