# Which actor has the greatest 'bad guy' ratio? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548 "2020-03-15T22:45:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/81 "2020-03-18T01:00:03Z")
> [@icon](#): > > I will second Gary Oldman. Especially since he was such a scary crazy bad guy in Léon. Playing Commissioner Gordon does not cancel out that performance. > > //i\ What about the scary pimp he played in True Romance? Between that and Leon, definitely Bad Guy. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CDJ8ocSN5GE/maxresdefault.jpg "True Romance Gary Oldman Drexl HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDJ8ocSN5GE) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/82 "2020-03-18T01:48:32Z")
Anybody mention \*\*Al Pacino \*\*yet? **Bruce Dern** was another of my first thoughts. I mentioned **Udo Kier** a couple days ago in a Thread Games thread about this topic… Lee Marvin was headed this way once. ---
**Author:** ![Biggus\_Richard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ab992/32.png) [@Biggus\_Richard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggus_Richard)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/83 "2020-03-18T02:48:36Z")
William Watson. Always bad. Saw only one movie where Steven Keats had the (good) lead role: The Ivory Ape. I miss these guys. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/84 "2020-03-18T02:51:48Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > do the right thing. Speaking of which, it was the first film I ever saw Giancarlo Esposito in, and like I said, he wasn’t what you could call a bad guy. Just passionate about his principles (and shoes) to the point of anger. Nobody in the film was an actual bad guy (except the choke-hold cop). The rioting was an indictment of society in general + hot weather. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/85 "2020-03-18T03:20:06Z")
David Warner was also a Catholic priest in _The Omen_ and a Federation diplomat in _Star Trek V_ - both good guys. But yes, he’s made his career playing villains. ---
**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 18, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/86 "2020-03-18T05:19:37Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Anybody mention \*\*Al Pacino \*\*yet? **Bruce Dern** was another of my first thoughts. I mentioned **Udo Kier** a couple days ago in a Thread Games thread about this topic… > > Lee Marvin was headed this way once. I’m guessing you didn’t, like, read the thread. ---
**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 18, 2020, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/87 "2020-03-18T05:46:33Z")
Pardon the mutliple posting, but this has to be mentioned… I can think of only one bad guy role Alan Arkin played, but _dayum_ was he nasty as Roat in _Wait Until Dark_. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken_1)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/88 "2020-03-18T16:50:11Z")
Javier Bardem. As Anton Chigurh in ‘No Country for Old Men’, there’s no one badder…or scarier. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/89 "2020-03-18T16:58:19Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > Javier Bardem. As Anton Chigurh in ‘No Country for Old Men’, there’s no one badder…or scarier. He was a villain in a recent James Bond movie, too (playing it a bit too much like Anton C., I thought). ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/90 "2020-03-19T12:47:40Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > The late Noble Willingham didn’t just play bad guys - he was always the _same_ bad guy, a rich, corrupt hick in a cowboy hat. He was a good guy in _Good Morning, Vietnam_. What about [Michael Biehn](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000299/)? Kyle Reese may have been a good guy, but that’s cancelled out by Johnny Ringo. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/91 "2020-03-19T13:00:40Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/92 "2020-03-19T14:51:03Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Reaching back in time, it has stru\*\*ck me before that I can’t recall a single sympathetic role played by Adolphe Menjou. His roles varied from the completely villainous (Paths of Glory) to the suave but nasty lothario (Stage Door) to the silly and completely unreasonable (You Were Never Lovelier) to the slick and slimy (Roxie Hart) to the neo-Fascist (State of the Union). Perhaps in his younger days he played leading types, I’ve never seen any of those movies. > > And a case where art imitates life, because apparently we was a thoroughly nasty man who sang like a bird against his fellow actors and others in the movie industry to the HUAC during the red scare in the early 50’s. I don’t think he was a very good actor either, all facade and pretty clothes. I didn’t know about the HUAC thing, but he played the sympathetic (but powerless to prevent his client’s self-destruction) agent to Norman Maine in 1937’s _A Star Is Born_, and the lonely (but ultimately kindly) old Mr. Pendergast in Walt Disney’s _Pollyanna_. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/93 "2020-03-19T15:12:39Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > I can’t believe no one has mentioned Alan Rickman. > [@Aspidistra](#): > > _Truly Madly Deeply_ > _Galaxy Quest_ > > Hell, even Severus Snape is not exactly _bad_, just rather a dick in a not absolutely unjustified way The not-very-approachable but honorable Colonel Brandon in _Sense and Sensibility_ (1995). ---
**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 19, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/94 "2020-03-19T16:37:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I didn’t know about the HUAC thing, but he played the sympathetic (but powerless to prevent his client’s self-destruction) agent to Norman Maine in 1937’s _A Star Is Born_, and the lonely (but ultimately kindly) old Mr. Pendergast in Walt Disney’s _Pollyanna_. It’s been a long time since i saw either of those movies, and I don’t remember him in them. I’ll take your word for it about these roles. I notice his IMDB listing is pretty sympathetic: “Adolphe’s extreme hardcore right-wing Republican politics hurt his later reputation, as he was made a scapegoat for his cooperation as a “friendly witness” at the House Un-American Activities Commission hearing during the Joseph McCarthy Red Scare era.” Some people love to whitewash history. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/95 "2020-03-19T17:32:01Z")
Mickey Rourke is a fantastic actor. I’ve always been saddened by the turns of his career. Sin City wasn’t working at all until his character appeared and made it all fall into place. As for being a scumbag… …as others have said its such a debatable term. If you mean seedy anti-hero or someone who commits crimes, then no…he probably has always played a sorta scumbag. He’s seedy in Angel Heart, Pope of Greenwich Village, 9 1/2 Weeks, Year of the Dragon…He’s a disheveled guy, with oily hair. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/96 "2020-03-19T17:36:43Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > John Colicos. Evil scientist, OC figure, agent of tyrannical empires, prick traitor. Has he ever played a good guy? Onstage. But thats about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/97 "2020-03-19T17:37:58Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > Funny. I think of Gary Oldman as the hero in [Romeo is Bleeding](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107983). It always seems strange to see him play a villain role. (edges away from Sefton)…if you think Oldman is a hero in Romeo is Bleeding…(stops edging away and breaks into full on sprint) ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/98 "2020-03-19T17:46:37Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > He was a good guy in _Good Morning, Vietnam_. > > What about [Michael Biehn](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000299/)? > > Kyle Reese may have been a good guy, but that’s cancelled out by Johnny Ringo. Nah, he was the good guy in Aliens. And in Planet Terror. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/99 "2020-03-19T18:17:41Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > The not-very-approachable but honorable Colonel Brandon in _Sense and Sensibility_ (1995). Yes, a great role for him. And as Emma Thompson noted in her excellent book about the making of the film (which includes her complete, annotated Oscar-winning screenplay), she gave the character something Jane Austen hadn’t - a first name, Christopher. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Mickey Rourke is …seedy in Angel Heart… He’s a disheveled guy, with oily hair. The director of _Angel Heart_ joked in a later interview that Mickey Rourke could make the most elegant suit look like a potato sack. ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548/100 "2020-03-19T20:34:30Z")
[Al Leong](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4393410/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)? The closest thing to a “good guy” I can remember him playing was Genghis Khan… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-has-the-greatest-bad-guy-ratio/849548.md?page=6)