# What actors/actresses always play really good bad guys? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865 "2016-03-03T21:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/41 "2016-03-04T17:02:34Z")
Victor Buono the most memorable Batman villain as King Tut Bruce Gordon had the stereotypical dem and dose gangster down pat. There was one “Untouchables” episode that had Bruce Gordon as Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti and Buono as the weekly bad guy, a counterfeiter. Buono pulls the stunt that Eddie Murphy does in “Beverly Hills Cop”: confronts the agent following you to by giving him a ticket on the plane and telling him not to miss our flight. Rico slams his newspaper in disgust. ---
**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:** [March 4, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/42 "2016-03-04T17:51:39Z")
> [@psiekier](#): > > How about [Kurtwood Smith](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001748/) (Clarence Boddiker in the original _RoboCop_, but also Red Foreman on _That 70’s Show_) and [Sid Haig](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0354085/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) - Haig _always_ plays the big baddie! As your link makes clear, Sid Haig ISN’T always the Baddie. But if he isn’t, he’s usually Very Weird. (In _Spider Baby_ and _Galaxy of Terror_, for instance) ---
**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:** [March 4, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/43 "2016-03-04T17:54:26Z")
**Anthony Zerbe** is almost invariably the Bad Guy, and plays it with aplomb. I was very surprised, in fact, when he played Councillor Hamann of Zion, an undeniably Good Guy, in the Matrix movies. > **[Anthony Zerbe - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001875/)** > > Anthony Zerbe. Actor: The Omega Man. Hailing from Long Beach, California, talented character actor Anthony Zerbe has kept busy in Hollywood and on stage since the late 1960s, often playing villainous or untrustworthy characters, with his narrow gaze... ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/44 "2016-03-04T18:43:49Z")
Ralph Fiennes? ---
**Author:** ![Hocus\_Pocus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/41988e/32.png) [@Hocus\_Pocus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hocus_Pocus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/45 "2016-03-04T18:57:04Z")
Alan Rickman James Woods J. T. Walsh Kevin Tighe Jason Isaacs It seems like there was a movie or tv mini-series where someone played a very evil Nazi, but I can’t think of the actor nor movie. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/46 "2016-03-04T19:07:24Z")
Joe Pantoliano. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/47 "2016-03-04T19:16:15Z")
To the OP - you’re asking who plays the villain roles really well, not who always seems to play a villain, correct? E.g. Ben Kingsley played a ferociously scary mobster in “Sexy Beast” but he was also Ghandi. ---
**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:** [March 4, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/48 "2016-03-04T19:20:30Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Joe Pantoliano. Agreed. I really like him, and his “Bad Guys” have some depth to them, in The Matrix, Memento, and the first Percy Jackson movie. He had a couple of TV series where he played the Good Guy, but they never lasted more than about a dozen episodes. I guess people want him as the Baddie. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/49 "2016-03-04T20:38:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Agreed. I really like him, and his “Bad Guys” have some depth to them, in The Matrix, Memento, and the first Percy Jackson movie. > He had a couple of TV series where he played the Good Guy, but they never lasted more than about a dozen episodes. I guess people want him as the Baddie. Ralph Cifaretto! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/50 "2016-03-04T20:45:47Z")
Since Reservoir Dogs, I’ve been permanently scared of Michael Madsen. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/51 "2016-03-04T21:48:57Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > … > > Christopher Lee > > … I apparently blocked this trauma from my mind… What a depressing piece of news. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/52 "2016-03-05T14:25:59Z")
We’ve got this far without mentioning Garrett Dilihunt? Scary as hell. He did have one role in Raising Hope in which h he showed surprising comedy chops, but that is the only thing I’ve seen him in where he wasn’t psycho bad. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/53 "2016-03-05T14:32:55Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > Ralph Fiennes? good one. apparently his portrayal of Amon Göth in _Schindler’s List_ was a little _too_ convincing: _"When Fiennes, in full Hauptsturmfuhrer regalia, was introduced by Spielberg to Mila Pfefferberg, a Schindler survivor depicted in the film, the old lady trembled. “Her knees began to give out from under her,” Spielberg recalls. “I held her while Ralph enthused about how important it was for him to meet her – and she vibrated with terror. She didn’t see an actor. She saw Amon Goeth.”_ > **[The Man Behind the Monster - TIME](http://web.archive.org/web/20090202075028/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980191-2,00.html)** > > Debonair and demonic in Schindler's List, Ralph Fiennes wins Oscar's notice, and everyone else's ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/54 "2016-03-05T22:12:55Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Christopher Lee My immediate thought too, the charm that lets you forget the evil. There are Hammer movies where he’s ostensibly a good guy but I just can’t shake the feeling that’s he’s just taking sides to enable a third, more evil party. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/55 "2016-03-06T18:24:36Z")
Vladek Sheybal. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/56 "2016-03-06T22:19:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Anthony Zerbe** is almost invariably the Bad Guy, and plays it with aplomb. > I was very surprised, in fact, when he played Councillor Hamann of Zion, an undeniably Good Guy, in the Matrix movies. > > [Anthony Zerbe - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001875/) I seem to recall Roger Ebert’s review of Rooster Cogburn, where he noted that the main villain was played by “Anthony Zerbe at his slimiest”. That was pretty much Zerbe’s shtick. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/57 "2016-03-06T23:14:50Z")
I’m going to pick someone obscure–Carolyn Seymour. She’s British, and I’ve only seen her in television roles–but I’d bet she’d make a great James Bond villain. In fact, I really wish the Bond producers would finally pick a British actress to be the main Bond villain. Does anyone else agree? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/58 "2016-03-06T23:43:51Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > I’m going to pick someone obscure–Carolyn Seymour. She’s British, and I’ve only seen her in television roles–but I’d bet she’d make a great James Bond villain. In fact, I really wish the Bond producers would finally pick a British actress to be the main Bond villain. Does anyone else agree? Heather Flanagan? ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/59 "2016-03-07T00:13:39Z")
Tilda Swinton ---
**Author:** ![Hocus\_Pocus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/41988e/32.png) [@Hocus\_Pocus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hocus_Pocus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865/60 "2016-03-07T13:44:00Z")
Nancy Davis played a great villain in the 80’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-actresses-always-play-really-good-bad-guys/747865.md?page=4)