# The best Satan **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637 "2012-03-13T12:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/41 "2012-03-13T17:14:12Z")
> [@howye](#): > > Ray Wise is my pick too. Now, anytime I see him in something else, his character really is Satan. He is in an episode of Sports Night where he could easily be the devil in disguise. +1. Ray Wise was just so… gleefully evil. Just how I imagined he would be. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/42 "2012-03-13T17:20:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Elizabeth Hurley in the _Bedazzled_ remake was the sexiest Satan of all time. Mainly because she was Elizabeth Hurley.. Sexiest, most likely, but she was vastly inferior to Peter Cook’s version of the role in the original movie. Laird Cregar in **Heaven Can Wait** is probably the best genial version of Satan (if that’s who he is). ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/43 "2012-03-13T17:24:16Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > And you know, John Goodman would make a great Satan. He does do a pretty good version of coming close - at least, in terms of helping someone down a dark path - in one movie. [spoiler]In Barton Fink, he helps the title character dispose of a body; Fink assumes he blacked out during the previous night’s festivities and somehow killed a woman he slept with. Goodman’s character tells him not to call the police. When Fink finds out from the cops that his currently-vacationing, jovial, helpful neighbor is really a serial killer who keeps trophies from victims, he breaks out of his writer’s block and cranks out the best script of his life based on the events. Nope, not “tells the police,” or even “shows the cops the box said neighbor asked him to hold onto.” He writes, out of inspiration and to save his job. Goodman’s character reappears when he sets their building on fire, and he returns to his room, but not before telling Fink that he paid a visit to Fink’s parents during his trip. And his parents don’t pick up the phone. Meanwhile, Fink’s beloved script is reviled, and his boss humiliates him and wants to keep him around as a figurative whipping boy to pick on. If that doesn’t sound like selling your soul to the Devil only to find your dreams twisted, I don’t know what does.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/44 "2012-03-13T18:01:08Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Movie-wise I have a great deal of fondness of Al Pacino’s ‘John Milton’ from ‘The Devil’s Advocate’. 1. Another vote for Al Pacino. The scenery chewing once he reveals himself nails in the narcissistic excess and actual silliness of evil. 2. Peter Cook in the original Bedazzled, for the petty narcissicist banalaty of evil. 3. And Ray Walston in Damn Yankees, for that sly evil grin. Or am I thinking of him as Uncle Martin in My Favorite Martian? Damn it, now I’ll have to find it watch it. Well, his voice is perfect, anyway. Just the right touch of superciliousness. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/45 "2012-03-13T18:07:59Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Jazz magician? It’s like a regular magician but the hot female sidekick plays jazz while he does the tricks. I really like Jacob from Lost playing Lucifer on Supernatural. I think he portrays the character well. Apparantly the actors name is Mark Pellegrino. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/46 "2012-03-13T18:10:18Z")
George Burns in “Oh God, You Devil!” If I can nominate a cartoon character, then it’s Dan Castellaneta’s Robot Devil from Futurama. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/47 "2012-03-13T18:26:18Z")
I don’t know if Jack Nicholson was meant to be playing _the_ devil or just a random demon (he does call himself an average horny little devil), but if he was, he goes on the list, as does Al Pacino. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/48 "2012-03-13T18:27:51Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > To me its [Ray Wise](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0936403/) in the show _Reaper_. He was charming, personable and funny. Just the kind of guy that could get you to sign a contract for your soul. But in an instant he would change to evil and menacing. I liked the show and was sorry to see it go. He was the best part of it. Can’t stand Ray Wise, in anything I’ve seen him in, but I will admit he was devilishly good in _Reaper_ ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/49 "2012-03-13T18:46:17Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > … posing as a guidance counselor to talk coeds into being strippers,… :smack: Guidance counselor - why didn’t I think of that? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/50 "2012-03-13T18:46:26Z")
I also liked the Devil in “God, the Devil and Bob”. About 1:30 into the clip the devil kicks and cane out from under an old lady and then god non-chalantly kicks a chair her way and she falls into it. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_dZ4G0B974) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/51 "2012-03-13T18:57:40Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > He does do a pretty good version of coming close - at least, in terms of helping someone down a dark path - in one movie. See also his schtick in COMMUNITY. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/52 "2012-03-13T18:59:09Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > John Glover as the Devil in the TV series _Brimstone_, hands down. His Satan _enjoyed_ his work, and it showed in all the little evil touches–unscrewing salt shaker lids while chatting with his earthly agent, posing as a guidance counselor to talk coeds into being strippers, singing about gonorrhea, giving a piece of angel food cake a dirty look…he was never off the clock. > > Plus, you know, _John Glover_ playing Satan. This is who I came in to mention. To be a good Devil/Satan, you would have to be attractive, full of persuasiveness and charisma. I mean, a being with horns, tail, etc, would put you right off, but a charming guy/gal/whatever could make selling your soul worth it. Glover, as Satan, could be all of that. But wait, didn’t he also put in an appearance as God, in the same show? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/53 "2012-03-13T19:31:38Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Jazz magician? :smack: musician, of course. > [@phreesh](#): > > Totally agree. I love how he seems like a loser most of the time, but they throw a few instances, like the local bingo game where he wins every time, where you’re all, “Wait, could he actually **be** the devil?” > > Love it. Indeed. That scene is among my all-time favorites: [spoiler]He’s broke, so he stops by a church bingo game to pick up some ready cash. After winning all the money, plus the macrame plant holder grand prize, he walks out. A local mutters, “Cheater!” as he passes by, so he stops and delivers one of the greatest movie lines in history. “Lady,” he says, “You can’t cheat at bingo. If you could, I would. But you can’t. I won because I was lucky – lucky to end up in a town full of losers.” And he drops the macrame plant holder in the garbage can–to the shocked gasps of the old church ladies–and walks out the door.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/54 "2012-03-13T19:35:58Z")
Peter Cook as George Spiggot, in the original [Bedazzled](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061391/). Some quotes: "It’s the standard contract. Gives you seven wishes in accordance with the mystic rules of life. Seven Days of the Week, Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Seas, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers… " “Now, then, what’d you like to be first? Prime Minister? Oh, no, I’ve made that deal already.” “There was a time when I used to get lots of ideas… I thought up the Seven Deadly Sins in one afternoon. The only thing I’ve come up with recently is advertising.” I think that gives you an idea… Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/55 "2012-03-13T19:43:32Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > But wait, didn’t he also put in an appearance as God, in the same show? No, but he did play a non-fallen angel in one episode. (He was the one who ordered the angel food cake I mentioned, as I recall.) He told Stone that once a mortal had seen one angel–a fallen one, in Stone’s case–they sometimes see all angels the same way. So, all angels look alike to Stone, though they appear to wear different clothing. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/56 "2012-03-13T20:08:03Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Movie-wise I have a great deal of fondness of Al Pacino’s ‘John Milton’ from ‘The Devil’s Advocate’. This is my pick too. Although I haven’t seen many of the portrayals listed here. I love the sense of burden, of carrying the heavy load of varied and conflicting expectations, that he puts into that simple phrase “I have so many _names_!” And in the scene by the water on top of the skyscraper, he does this subtly strange rhythm in his walk; it somehow suggests hooves without any real reference. And when he talks about “They never see me comin’.” That so portrays for me the fallacy of the slick well-dressed devil in so many portrayals. Evil stays just outside your peripheral vision whenever possible. If we’re allowed a vote for written portrayal then I definitely switch to “The Screwtape Letters.” I especially love this passage, which just seems to me a prophecy of the Internet age: > [@](#): > > [FONT=Arial Narrow]You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday’s paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but in conversations with those he cares nothing about on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and outgoing activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and \*nothing \*given in return, so that at last he may say, as one of my own patients said on his arrival down here, “I now see that I spent most of my life in doing \*neither \*what I ought \*nor \*what I liked”. [/FONT] > > [FONT=Arial Narrow]The Christians describe the Enemy as one “without whom Nothing is strong”. And Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man’s best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them, in drumming of fingers and kicking of heels, in whistling tunes that he does not like, or in the long, dim labyrinth of reveries that have not even lust or ambition to give them a relish, but which, once chance association has started them, the creature is too weak and fuddled to shake off. > [/FONT] ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/57 "2012-03-13T21:33:44Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I also liked the Devil in “God, the Devil and Bob”. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t\_dZ4G0B974](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_dZ4G0B974) Oh, I forgot how much I loved that show, and how sorry I was when it was canceled! You’re right; Alan Cumming is a great Devil, and James Garner as God makes perfect sense. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/58 "2012-03-13T22:49:30Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Well, there was a remake of _The Devil and Daniel Webster_ with Jennifer Love Hewitt that could be a contender. It was made but, I think, never officially released. It was sort of released. It played in a theatre or two so they could say it was a theatrical release. It’s never been released on DVD in America but it’s available in other countries and on Netflix. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/59 "2012-03-14T05:37:12Z")
Ray Walston gets a third (or fourth) for me. You gotta love a Satan with a sense of a humor who looks back fondly to the good ol’ days… > [@](#): > > I see Bonaparte–a mean one, > if ever I’ve seen one > And Nero fiddlin’ thru > that lovely blaze > Antionette, dainty queen… > with her quaint guillotine > Ha ha ha ha, those were the good old days. My other candidate, who hasn’t yet been mentioned I don’t think, is Sheriff Lucas Buck from _American Gothic_, played with serpentine yet down-home Southern charm by Gary Cole, who played the role with sex appeal, a mordant sense of humor, and a terrifying menace despite hardly ever raising his voice… maybe he was scarier _because_ he was so folksy. Actually, there’s some debate about whether Lucas was intended to be _the_ Devil or just a demon, but I don’t think the Lucifer / Lucas name similarity is a coincidence. An example of his handiwork, which is also one of the best opening scenes of a TV show ever: [spoiler] There’s a family of three – brutish dad Gage, ten-year-old Caleb, and Merlyn, an emotionally damaged teenager who as a little girl witnessed the rape of her mother and can now only say the words “someone at the door” – the last words she said before her mom opened the door to her rapist. The father is a violent drunk, and in the pilot is driven crazy by Merly’s constant refrain of “someone’s at the door” to the point where he bangs her on the head with a shovel. The cops arrive and Lucas Buck enters the bedroom where poor Merly is lying, her head bleeding, still whispering “someone’s at the door.” He tenderly holds her head, mutters some comforting words, and then – twists her head to break her neck, killing her. (He’s the one who raped her mom, you see; Caleb is his son.) IIRC, this is all before the starting credits, too! Two other fun moments: - Stabbing Gage in the neck with a fountain pen belonging to Lucas’s deputy (the deputy was the only witness to Merlyn’s murder, so this effectively shuts Ben up) - Tying up an annoying investigator (played by Bruce Campbell) and leaving him in a “flensing” box where he’s eaten by thousands of hungry beetles[/spoiler] _American Gothic_ was a great show, mixing creepiness and humor way before its time. I think if it had premiered later than 1995 – and on another network, not fusty old CBS, for God’s sake – it would’ve had a longer lifespan. Would’ve worked on HBO or maybe paired with _Buffy_, I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637/60 "2012-03-14T05:55:50Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > I want to throw books in there, although that’s not what you had in mind. 🙂 I nominate The Walkin Dude from _The Stand_. He was thoroughly believable as evil incarnate. The information that I found most chilling and convincing was the fact that he was kinda fuzzy on the details of his history. He seemed to remember being in Vietnam, or perhaps working on oil rigs …? Or something. > > That nebulous “where did he come from?” sense of evil that just springs forth when fertile ground is ready to nurture him seems to me absolutely what the devil needs to flourish. And if he’s taking human form, of course he’d be sort of confused. He’s not God, he’s a fallen angel set upon destroying good. The details? Eh. Let’s get on with the destruction of humanity. That’s a good one. I would add Jamey Sheridan playing him in the mini series too. Not at all how I pictured him but it worked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-satan/615637.md?page=4)