# Who has the best permanent scowl? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2023, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628 "2023-01-22T23:19:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/21 "2023-01-23T17:23:37Z")
ahem - I think I’m right up there. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/22 "2023-01-23T17:25:32Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Clint Eastwood. Whether playing a Western badass or Dirty Harry, or even his later roles. There’s a built-in aloof malice in his look that even real life villains like Dick Cheney or Vlad Putin can’t touch. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > So much so that when Eastwood smiles (“Dirty Harry” opening sequence), it’s downright scary. I’d say the same for [Danny Trejo.](https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1690430/danny-trejo.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/23 "2023-01-23T17:28:17Z")
Kate Winslet is always frowning through her smiles. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/24 "2023-01-23T19:19:25Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I’d say the same for [Danny Trejo](https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1690430/danny-trejo.jpg) Danny is scary as fuck! Except when he is doing things with children, Then he really smiles. A little bit. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/25 "2023-01-23T19:20:02Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I think Kanye is getting more scowly as he gets older. I don’t know if it’s a deliberate affectation, but in some shots he looks like he’s got tennis balls stuffed in his cheeks. He did get into a major car accident while working on _The College Dropout_ that caused his jaw to be wired shut for like a month, or something, and a plate being put in his jaw (“Through the Wire” being the most direct track about this, but is referenced a few times through the album.) I suppose over time with aging, this may alter one’s visage. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/26 "2023-01-23T19:38:07Z")
Seems to me the Trumps have nailed down the championship. Her, it’s just her take on what makes a model attractive, the death stare of a woman who hates your guts, and to him, he thinks a scowl is the look of someone in authority, which he is always striving towards. On the both of them, it just makes them look like petulant douchebags, but they seem to like the gravitas they think it lends to them ---
**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:** [January 23, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/27 "2023-01-23T19:50:55Z")
I nominate [Tommy](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500/zixpaPmOonRh1I3TWgxDkeGxkrv.jpg) [Lee](https://images.mubicdn.net/images/cast_member/2242/cache-2553-1561582001/image-w856.jpg?size=800x) [Jones](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/TommyLeeJones.336782.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/28 "2023-01-23T20:13:08Z")
The late, always great, Bea Arthur. [![](https://thumb.spokesman.com/PyY4YC-xerMuFTyf1oxMnprffxA=/2500x2500/smart/media.spokesman.com/photos/2009/04/25/obit_arthur.jpg) ](https://thumb.spokesman.com/PyY4YC-xerMuFTyf1oxMnprffxA=/2500x2500/smart/media.spokesman.com/photos/2009/04/25/obit_arthur.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/29 "2023-01-24T00:09:39Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Surely the Queen of the scowl is (was) The Queen herself (RIP) - > > [https://www.scienceofpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/image-15.png](https://www.scienceofpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/image-15.png) > **[How The Queen Tried To Hold Off Her ‘Cross’ Resting Face](https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/new-biography-reveals-queen-thinks-cross-resting-face/)** > > A new biography on The Queen has revealed the lengths she once went to, to... ‘It’s awful — I’ve got the kind of face that if I’m not smiling I look cross. But I’m not cross. If you try to smile for two hours continuously it gives you a nervous tic. But the moment I stop smiling somebody will say, “Doesn’t she look cross?”’ (I can certainly sympathize!) ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/30 "2023-01-24T02:28:26Z")
I don’t know if I would call it a scowl, a sneer, or whatever, but Mariska Hargitay has this thing with her upper lip like all her co-workers have been eating egg salad sanwiches and somebody just let a fart. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/31 "2023-01-24T02:50:48Z")
I have to think Ray Liotta was at lweast trying to smile here. [![](https://www.nj.com/resizer/_EY1nckJxpQHn0kHJcHYa5J_mC4=/800x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/advancelocal/LX6VZ3VATRCWFEWAMG5ZRH54O4.jpg) ](https://www.nj.com/resizer/_EY1nckJxpQHn0kHJcHYa5J_mC4=/800x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/advancelocal/LX6VZ3VATRCWFEWAMG5ZRH54O4.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/32 "2023-01-24T03:08:40Z")
Yes! That is100% correct! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/33 "2023-01-24T18:22:32Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > ‘It’s awful — I’ve got the kind of face that if I’m not smiling I look cross. But I’m not cross. If you try to smile for two hours continuously it gives you a nervous tic. But the moment I stop smiling somebody will say, “Doesn’t she look cross?”’ > > (I can certainly sympathize!) That’s me too. Although thankfully, unlike the late Queen, I have no professional reason to need to smile for hours. That’d suck. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/34 "2023-01-24T18:28:35Z")
It’s always fun to laugh at Anne Ramsey’s face, until you learn about her cancer. > **[Anne Ramsey - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001649/)** > > Anne Ramsey. Actress: The Goonies. American character actress Anne Ramsey was born Anne Mobley in Omaha, Nebraska to Eleanor (Smith), a national treasurer of the Girl Scouts, and Nathan Mobley, an insurance executive. Her uncle was U.S. Ambassador... ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/35 "2023-01-24T19:40:22Z")
For my money, nobody has perma-scowl like this guy. [![](https://patriotswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2018/01/gettyimages-904634512.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1) ](https://patriotswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2018/01/gettyimages-904634512.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1) ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/36 "2023-01-25T16:07:59Z")
Perhaps I am being very German here, but don’t at least the pictures of Lagerfeld, Khomeini, Victoria Beckham, John Houseman, Dick Cheney and Bea Arthur show a facial expression in the _normal, nonsmiling_ range rather than a scowl? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/37 "2023-01-25T19:18:53Z")
Good one. I was thinking of a different Queen > **[Queen Victoria: how and why did she become Empress of India?](https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/victoria-rise-of-an-empress/)** > > When control of the subcontinent came under the British Crown in 1858, it marked the start of a turbulent relationship. Writer Lottie Goldfinch explains how Queen Victoria fell in love with a country she never stepped foot in ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/38 "2023-01-25T22:11:47Z")
Admiral Sir John Fisher evidently maintained a scowl/smirk for several decades. [![](https://alchetron.com/cdn/john-fisher-1st-baron-fisher-eff6115e-dad8-4c6b-b391-1575278a52b-resize-750.jpg) ](https://alchetron.com/cdn/john-fisher-1st-baron-fisher-eff6115e-dad8-4c6b-b391-1575278a52b-resize-750.jpg) [![](https://collectionimages.npg.org.uk/large/mw19683/John-Arbuthnot-Fisher-1st-Baron-Fisher.jpg) ](https://collectionimages.npg.org.uk/large/mw19683/John-Arbuthnot-Fisher-1st-Baron-Fisher.jpg) We are _not_ amused. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628/39 "2023-01-25T22:26:12Z")
Yeah, I would say for some of those I agree. Cheney looks like he’s about to shoot you. Bea Arthur looks like she doesn’t approve of whatever hijinks you’re up to. Khomeini looks perfectly normal. Lagerfield looks somewhat grumpy, I guess. Victoria’s eyes are accusatory, but her lips aren’t really what I would call a scowl. Houseman is in the scowly range, but just so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-best-permanent-scowl/978628.md?page=1)