# Post actors who play great bad guys **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064 "2007-11-19T19:02:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/21 "2007-11-19T19:42:42Z")
> [@](#): > > I just spent a minute trying to figure out what a “post actor” is. I’m slow in the uptake, then. I’ve spent over a minute, and I still can’t figure it out. “Past actor” – Nahhh. “Best Actor” – No, it can’t be that bad a typo. What is it? ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/22 "2007-11-19T19:47:51Z")
What? Nobody here remembers [Sidney Greenstreet?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Greenstreet) ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/23 "2007-11-19T19:50:14Z")
[Bruce Dern’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Dern) contributions to the world of Evil Cinema deserve more than a passing mention as well. I thought he was superb in _Black Sunday._ ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/24 "2007-11-19T19:51:03Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I’m slow in the uptake, then. I’ve spent over a minute, and I still can’t figure it out. “Past actor” – Nahhh. “Best Actor” – No, it can’t be that bad a typo. What is it? [/QUOTE] Why the confusion? The OP is asking us to post the names of actors who play good villains. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/25 "2007-11-19T19:57:54Z")
Oh, it’s a _verb_… Oy. Personally, I think Jason Isaacs would’ve been a great James Bond, and I nominate Rutger Hauer as a cool villain. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/26 "2007-11-19T20:00:20Z")
[QUOTE=Cerowyn] [Bah](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0018816/photogallery-1). [/QUOTE] I should have added “amongst others” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/27 "2007-11-19T20:04:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Why the confusion? The OP is asking us to post the names of actors who play good villains. > [@](#): > > Oh, it’s a verb… > Oy. THAT’S why. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/28 "2007-11-19T20:05:53Z")
[QUOTE=Paintcharge] Why the confusion? The OP is asking us to post the names of actors who play good villains. [/QUOTE] I probably should have further noted that after spending the minute I figured it out. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/29 "2007-11-19T20:06:51Z")
Malcolm McDowell can be pretty creepy. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/30 "2007-11-19T20:07:50Z")
[QUOTE=LonesomePolecat] What? Nobody here remembers [Sidney Greenstreet?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Greenstreet) [/QUOTE] If we’re going back that far, let us bow to [Peter Lorre.](http://www.tomsmithonline.com/lyrics/peter_lorre.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/31 "2007-11-19T20:08:31Z")
Sean Bean! (He makes a pretty good hero, too. In fact, you can just cast him in every role, it’s okay…) Rufus Sewell’s not half bad, either. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/32 "2007-11-19T20:13:13Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Gary Oldman in [_Leon_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_%28film%29) (a.k.a. _The Professional)._ But Oldman plays a great **anything.** [/QUOTE] He was pretty awesome in The Contender, and in Murder in the First. Great villains, both. Mike Starr is a great villain for comedies. Brad Dourif usually plays the role. But by far the best is Ricardo Montalban. Buried alive, buried alive… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/33 "2007-11-19T20:19:53Z")
[QUOTE=gallows fodder] Jason Isaacs. Brilliant actor, and his eyes are ice-blue (always a plus in the villain arena). [/QUOTE] Gallows wins it in one. (Took my post, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/34 "2007-11-19T20:42:16Z")
[Michael Wincott!](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000699/) What, no female villains? [Eleanor Audley](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041598/) - Voice of Cinderella’s Stepmother and Malificent (possibly the most evil Disney villains ever) [Glenn Close](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000335/) - "Fatal Attraction, "“Dangerous Liasions” [Barbara Stanwyck](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001766/) - For “Double Indemnity” alone [Anjelica Huston](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/) - “The Witches,” “The Grifters,” “Ever After”…I had no idea until I checked the imdb page that she was also the baddie in “Captain EO” (Ha!) [Kathleen Turner](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000678/) - “Body Heat”, “Serial Mom” Sharon Stone is kind of a movie-villain come to life, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![wouldn\_t\_you\_like\_to\_know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@wouldn\_t\_you\_like\_to\_know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wouldn_t_you_like_to_know)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/35 "2007-11-19T21:23:43Z")
I always thought [Henry Silva](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798328/) played nothing but villian/bad guy roles. But looking at IMDB, surely one of his 135 roles must be a ‘nice’ guy. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/36 "2007-11-19T22:03:42Z")
The newest addition to the classic villian list… Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men. He’s wonderful in everything though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/37 "2007-11-19T22:12:10Z")
[QUOTE=wouldn’t you like to know] I always thought [Henry Silva](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798328/) played nothing but villian/bad guy roles. But looking at IMDB, surely one of his 135 roles must be a ‘nice’ guy. [/QUOTE] Well, he only took that job for a quick buck. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/38 "2007-11-19T22:32:44Z")
[Zeljko Ivanek](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0411964/). He was gonna hook Billy Crudup up to electricity in The Pillowman! Creepy! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/39 "2007-11-19T22:45:05Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Sean Bean! (He makes a pretty good hero, too. In fact, you can just cast him in every role, it’s okay…) [/QUOTE] He was so sweet in North Country, now I find it hard to hate him as a villian. And Timothy Oliphant(astic) in Die Hard? Pfft, he’s a pretty-boy romantic lead (yum). ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/40 "2007-11-19T22:58:51Z")
Kurtwood Smith should get a nod based solely on his performance in _Robocop_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064.md?page=3)