# Who plays the best Evil Roman Emperor?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-plays-the-best-evil-roman-emperor/108044>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 9, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-plays-the-best-evil-roman-emperor/108044 "2002-05-09T07:54:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-plays-the-best-evil-roman-emperor/108044/1 "2002-05-09T07:54:36Z")

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I’ve always been partial to [Jay Robinson](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Robinson,+Jay+(I)) as Caligula in The Robe and Demetrius and the Gladiators. He had a really creepy look, and I heard somewhere that he got so much into his character that he suffered mental problems afterwards.

On the other hand, [John Hurt](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Hurt,+John) was (of course) fantastic as Caligula in I, Claudius. Not as over the top as Jay Robinson, and probably more believable.

And of course, there’s Joc-um-(mumbledy mumble) Phoenix, who portrayed a fairly three-dimensional Commodus in Gladiator.

Any others that rank with this trio?

BTW, has there ever been TV or movie portrayal of Elagabalus? I’d pay money to see that one!

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**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:** [May 9, 2002, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-plays-the-best-evil-roman-emperor/108044/2 "2002-05-09T12:05:04Z")

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I’d go with John Hurt, both because of the script for I’ Claudius and for his performance. The movie **Caligula** , with Malcolm MacDowell, was a wasted opportunity. I wasn’t that fond of **The Robe**. I don’t know about any other Caligulas, except for a few knock-ff cheapies that were made or re-released in the wake of the Guccione film.

There have been quite a few Neros, but none of them memorable, and most pretty bad. Peter Lorre played Nero in the awful film **The Story of Mankind** , and that had to be close to his nadir.  
I don’t know about any movie or TV adaptations of Elagabalus, but there’s a comic-book bio in **The Big Book of Weirdos** from Parsdox Press.

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**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-plays-the-best-evil-roman-emperor/108044/3 "2002-05-09T12:15:22Z")

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I have to give the award for best evil roman emperor to Malcolm Mcdowel in Caligula.

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**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-plays-the-best-evil-roman-emperor/108044/4 "2002-05-09T12:46:12Z")

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I’d have to say Joaquim Phoenix as Commodus in _Gladiator_ followed closely by Peter Ustinov as the uber-whiney Nero in _Quo Vadis_.

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**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-plays-the-best-evil-roman-emperor/108044/5 "2002-05-09T16:27:56Z")

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I thought the guy who played Caesar in various episodes of **Xena** did a pretty good job of playing a Roman emperor. Of course, he’d make a perfect Romulan, too…

(Ducks thrown popcorn from everyone else on this thread…)