Those damned flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz.
Ronald Reagan’s appearance always made me uneasy (and I was in college at the time)–his speech patterns were also disturbing.
I was scared of practically everything and everybody as a child, so I will spare you the details. A select few:
Pete Lorre in anything–that voice…<shivers>
Snidely Whiplash–yes, I believed he was dastardly.
Howdy Doody–who was such an ugly puppet. I didn’t get puppets at all–why did they talk? How? And why would anyone make such a ugly thing?
The Captain on Garfield Goose–there was something wrong with his hair. And his words didn’t match his facial expressions at all.
Dennis Weaver in McCloud–ugly and weird voice and fake cowboy and aagghh…memories. blech.
Archie Bunker–why did people laugh? He was saying mean things and obviously meant them all. (I still feel this way–I still think that America didn’t “get” the satire and actually agreed with ole Arch).
OK-I could go on, but we’ve had enough neuroses for one day.
To this day, the only movie that has ever given me nightmares, ashamed though I am to admit it, is Howard the Duck. I mean, there wasn’t anything scary about the movie in and of itself, but for some reason, the night after I saw it, I had a dream where I was being chased by a rather menacing Howard.
In 1974, I was 6, and I had a nightmare that I still remember vividly 30+ years later.
I was at school, waiting for my dad to come pick me up. A car pulled up, I got in, and the car pulled away. Just then, I relized it was not a car I was familiar with. I looked at the driver, and it was RICHARD NIXON!!! AAAAAAA! I screamed at him, “Stop the car! I want to get out!” But President Richard Nixon kept driving, making no sign that he even heard me or knew I was there. No matter how much I screamed and cried, he never even turned his famous head.
Whew.
I know I wasn’t the only person in my family who was afraid of Richard Nixon.
The Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz (Margaret Hamilton, IIRC).
Also, when I was around five or six, I remember being frightened by a photo of U.S. Grant and his family. They were sitting around an open Bible, and Grant was looking at the viewer with what I thought was the meanest glare I’d ever seen. (It was probably the first portrait I’d seen from that time when people didn’t smile, but stared sternly into the camera). That grizzled look, combined with the presence of his kids, left me with the impression that he didn’t like all kids.
The Child Catcher from *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang * absolutely terrified me. I was very surprised when I watched the movie as an adult to see it was such a small part. As a kid, it seemed like the entire movie was about him!
Max Von Sydow. When I saw Strange Brew as a young’n I thought he was the most hideous man I’d ever seen. And his voice sounded like he was gargling with marbles. Is he even still alive? shudder
