My list of evil characters, and the nice actors that played them:
[ul]
[li]Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville)[/li][li]Nellie Olsen (Alison Arngrim)[/li][li]Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton)[/li][/ul]
Having worked in a bookstore that had a number of author events with self-help writers, this has been my experience.
I think it’s a matter of opinion not a hard and fast rule. Actors obviously prefer directors who let them do what they want but that doesn’t mean they’re always right. Some great directors, like Hitchcock and Kubrick, were notorious for controlling their actors down to the smallest detail - they had an exact vision of what they wanted the film to be and they wanted their performers to do it that way. While Ozzie and Harriet may not have been in the same league, it was Ozzie Nelson’s show and he had the right to have it made his way.
I’ve read in several places that Deepak “Woomeister” Chopra is an absolute asshole.
I think we even had a thread here that showed that, from a Doper who works in a bookstore.
I guess the reasoning behind the idea is that the type of people who are willing to sacrifice the quality of their shows/work to the preservation of a positive image are likely to be jerks.
On the other hand, even nice people have some standards.
I’ve heard people say that Christopher Reeve was a total asshole off-stage, and his only friend was Robin Williams. But my one run him with Reeve was very pleasant.