# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/41 "2007-11-19T23:10:15Z")
Well I suppose it is no consolation to those who wondered what a “post actor” is, but count me in that group. [Billy Drago](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0236711/) He was always scary looking dude. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/42 "2007-11-20T02:37:49Z")
Maybe I should have said, “Post pictures of actors…”. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/43 "2007-11-20T02:59:04Z")
[QUOTE=Karen Lingel] [Zeljko Ivanek](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0411964/). He was gonna hook Billy Crudup up to electricity in The Pillowman! Creepy! [/QUOTE] Also excellent as the hissing, simpering Southern-accented lawyer in the recent miniseries _Damages._ I would describe his performance as understated overacting. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/44 "2007-11-20T03:28:42Z")
I luuuuurve [Michael Emerson](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/images/celebritology/benry_linus.jpg) as the creepy creepy bad guy on _Lost_ and I can’t wait to see him be an awesome creepy creepy bad guy in films later in his career! ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/45 "2007-11-20T04:02:25Z")
> [@digglebop](#): > > Maybe I should have said, “Post pictures of actors…”. Here ya go: [Jason Isaacs](http://l.yimg.com/img.tv.yahoo.com/tv/us/img/site/99/09/0000039909_20070521164005.jpg). (Heh, great minds, **Ludovic** … ;)) I know a guy who worked as one of the historical consultants on “The Patriot,” and he said Jason Isaacs was incredibly friendly and down-to-earth, and he could turn that menace on and off in an instant. My acquaintance told me a story of Jason Isaacs joking around with him, pretending to be angry at something he had said and giving him a death glare, then laughing and slapping his arm…and even though the guy _knew_ Isaacs was joking, he still felt a stab of fear in his gut. Such is the power of those cold, cold eyes. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/46 "2007-11-20T04:20:16Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] I just spent a minute trying to figure out what a “post actor” is. [/QUOTE] Me too. I thought “wooden”, but that didn’t make sense. Most of my faves have been mentioned, except for Lee Van Cleef. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/47 "2007-11-20T04:30:37Z")
I’ll add another vote for Alan Rickman. Except I don’t really consider him a villain in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he was the best thing in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/48 "2007-11-20T04:48:41Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast [/QUOTE] I came in to talk about that one, but I’d also nominate him in Sneakers on the lighter side of things and [Death and the Maiden](http://imdb.com/gallery/ss/0109579/Ss/0109579/1-1.jpg.html?path=gallery&path_key=0109579) on the darker. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/49 "2007-11-20T13:53:20Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] The newest addition to the classic villian list… Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men. He’s wonderful in everything though. [/QUOTE] That’s what I was going to say. That guy was just absolutely terrifying in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/50 "2007-11-20T14:07:47Z")
John Malkovich deserves a mention as well. ---
**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 20, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/51 "2007-11-20T14:29:11Z")
**Torin Thatcher** – great Shakespearean actor who appeared as a bald, menacing villain or adversary, chiefly in the late 1950s/early 1960s. He played the prosecuting attorney in **Witness for the Prosecution** , the tough Reverend Dr. Thorn in **Hawaii** , and (my favorite) brought great style and verve to the role of Sakurah the Magician in the Harryhausen flick **the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad**. When J. Harris wanted to cash in by imitating that film, he got Thatcher to play the magician Pendragon in **Jack the Giant Killer**. Thatcher later played one of the apparent Bad Guys who released the Enterprise crew in the Star Trek episode “Return of the Archons”, and ended up playing a lot of TV roles that really weren’t worthy of him. An early, morally ambiguous role has him playing one of the Observers in **The Man Who Could Work Miracles**. It took me a while to realize it was him. Not only was he a good deal younger, but he had _hair_!! > **[Torin Thatcher | Actor, Writer](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0857147/)** > > Known for: Witness for the Prosecution, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Blackbeard, the Pirate ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/52 "2007-11-20T14:41:18Z")
[QUOTE=dalej42] John Malkovich deserves a mention as well. [/QUOTE] Teddy KGB. Great character. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/53 "2007-11-20T16:03:51Z")
Well, duh! [Jack Nicholson](http://www.poster.net/nicholson-jack/nicholson-jack-photo-jack-nicholson-6201980.jpg) of course. One of the most recognizable post actors. [Anne Ramsey](http://www.homevideos.com/freezeframes1203/ThrowMama46.jpeg), famously ugly and scary woman archetype. Since she’s dead, she would be a posthumous actor instead of a post one. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/54 "2007-11-20T17:41:07Z")
My favorite is [Udo Kier](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001424/). He looks like a friggen vampire, even when not playing one. He oozes evil no matter what part he’s playing. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/55 "2007-11-20T18:38:43Z")
[Danny Trejo](http://www.revistateina.com/teina/web/teina9/cinimag/danny.jpg) Just a tough looking dude. ---
**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 20, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/56 "2007-11-20T18:47:58Z")
I’'ve often joked that you couldn;t have \*_Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, \*\* and **Tom Noonan** _ get on the same plane together, because if it crashed there wouldn’t be anyone left to play psychos (\*\*Anthony Perkins \*\* was on the list before he died. And maybe we should add **Christopher Walken** , too.) \*Tom Noonan doesn’t get enough respect. He played the heavy in **Manhunter** and **RoboCop II** and, memorably, in **The Last Action Hero** (where he also played himself). He was also the Frankenstein Monster in **The Monster Squad**. ---
**Author:** ![Smooth\_Jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Smooth\_Jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smooth_Jack)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064/57 "2007-11-20T18:53:31Z")
Henry Fonda, of course. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-actors-who-play-great-bad-guys/427064.md?page=2)