Gotta go with Ray Walston in Damn Yankees. That should be right up OP’s alley.
One of my favorite King books and movies.
Elizabeth Hurley in the Bedazzled re-make. She could have my worthless soul if I could just sit at her left hand and stare.
John Glover in the TV series Brimstone. Humorous, personable, cheerful…and with no pity or remorse.
I came to this thread with a selection of favorites, to be both amused and disappointed that I was beaten to ALL OF THEM.
Not in any particular order, I would have mentioned Legend (Darkness), the Prophecy, Brimstone (which I’ve mentioned in at least a half dozen other threads), Angel Heart and Needful things.
If you held me hostage and forced me to Pick the best, as per the OP, I would probably have been going back and forth between Legend and Prophecy, while finally settling on Darkness due to the absolutely lushness of the portrayal between costuming, voice, and seductiveness.
Prophecy does a better job of being aggrieved, jealous, and (arguably) smarter, but cannot quite match the budget and power of Legend’s performance.
Can’t pick just one!
Häxan (1922) – Writer-director Benjamin Christensen as the Devil:
Fantasia (1940) – Chernabog, perhaps the most effective incarnation of a Devil-like being ever put on the screen.
Angel on my Shoulder (!946) – Claude Rains: typically dapper, insidious and witty as he manipulates – and gets manipulated by – murdered gangster Paul Muni.
Simon of the Desert (1965) – Silvia Pinal, perhaps my favorite Satan of all; certainly one of the funniest.
Spirits of the Dead (1968), segment: “Toby Damnit” – Marina Yaru, creepiest of all:
Prince of Darkness (1987) – Not an actor, but the jar of “liquid Satan” gives a fine performance.
I agree with Him from the Powerpuff Girls. That’s my favorite devil. And Tim Curry is great in Legend too.
Matt Servitto in the Adult Swim series Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell.
He’s more like the literal boss from Hell who likes having toadies around to abuse, mainly because he’s bored and stuck in an eternal rut.
The Witches Of Eastwick is, of course, just Jack Nicholson doing his go-to schtick — but I can’t actually see a way to improve on that.
John Ritter in “Wholly Moses!”
Compare to Ray Wise’s Devil in the TV show “Reaper”.
It’s essentially the same concept as “Brimstone”, but with a more comedic flair.
All of my favorites have already been named. (The Devil’s Advocate, Brimstone, Angel Heart, Heaven Can Wait)
So I will have to go with an honorable mention:
Aaron Reed, who donned Tim Curry makeup for the Match.com commercials.
Also did a commercial for Mint Wireless called “Dream Job”, which I am having trouble linking.
And we’ve gotta give a shout out to the Devil on South Park. He’s just a demon trying to torture souls in Hell, but he’s stuck in an abusive relationship with Saddam Hussein who keeps trying to take over his job.
Oh, that reminds me, honourable mention to Dave Grohl in Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny
I came in to mention Glover in Brimstone. He also plays an angel in one episode.
The Devil has been telling Stone that killing the man who raped his wife was not the sin that damned him, just the capstone on an evil life. The angel tells Stone that he was a good man who almost made it into Heaven.
Angel “Look at all the women in this park. What do you see?”
Stone “They’re all very pretty.”
Angel " I suppose they are. But, that’s not what I meant. Every woman in this park would have been raped by Gilbert Jacks if you hadn’t killed him."
There were great depths to Glover’s Devil.
Vigo in Prophecy was my next choice “I am the first angel, once loved above all others.”
Who is the devil in OBwaT?
There was an episode of Northern Exposure where Charles Martin Smith (“toad” from American Graffiti, but older) played Satan. Appearing totally harmless and unassuming, the complete opposite of most people’s concept of what the devil would look like, I thought his portrayal was one of the best. No scary intimidation, but he attempts to corrupt (sell her soul) Shelly ever so slightly. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that episode, but I seem to recall him explaining that getting “weak” people to sell their soul was too easy. So the real challenge was to see if he could get the pure of heart to cheat just a little.
Going from Tommy’s description, “He’s white… with empty eyes and a big hollow voice. He loves to travel around with a mean old hound.”
Remind you of anyone?
The guy from the Caramilk ad
I like a lot of the ones mentioned above, but this is another one that has always creeped me out:
