# Who's the best villian actor of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777 "2007-03-06T04:18:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/21 "2007-03-06T10:15:20Z")
For any of you seniors out there who used to go to Saturday matinees of Roy and Dale, you might remember [Roy Barcroft](http://www.b-westerns.com/villainb.htm). Anyone who can piss you off every week when you’re five years old has got to be a real badass – or a great villian. I hated this man so much that I was still trying to find out his name when I was in my fifties! She didn’t normally play villainous roles, put Gene Tierney’s performance in _Leave Her to Heaven_ was certainly interesting. And for a live performance: Chris Cedzich in _East Lynne_, Bethel College, McKenzie, Tennessee, 1962. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/22 "2007-03-06T11:32:48Z")
Russel Crowe’s portrayal of a serial killer in Virtuosity made the movie for me. Not a good movie by any means, but he really put some scare into it. "And then I think I’ll hang him. By the balls? 🙂 " ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/23 "2007-03-06T12:51:18Z")
[QUOTE=lokij] I propose Peter Lorre. An utterly unforgetable villain. [/QUOTE] What I was going to say. But I’ll throw in Sydney Greenstreet. And when they’re in the same movie…villainous bliss. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/24 "2007-03-06T12:59:07Z")
I can only recall two movie villians that genuinely frightened me. Russell Crowe in _Romper Stomper_ as a xenophobic skinhead and, king of them all, Ben Kingsley in _Sexy Beast_. Kingsley was so menacing that I was praying for him to get on with the violence because the anticipation was making me squirm. Both opinions are based on first impressions only as I never revisited either movie. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/25 "2007-03-06T13:20:45Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Don’t forget his role as villanous corrupt cop Stansfield in the movie Léon. The Professional was the title given Leon for it’s american release. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/26 "2007-03-06T13:23:51Z")
Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction :eek: . And 101 Dalmantions. 😃 ---
**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:** [March 6, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/27 "2007-03-06T13:25:41Z")
My favorite overall is **Torin Thatcher** , a Shakespearean actor (at least I think he was) whose performances on celluloid always seem to be as villains, which he pulled off very well. He was balding and had an elegant sense of menace. He played the magician Sokourah in **the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad**. When Jonathan Small decided to make his own fantasy epic, he hijacked as many people from that film for his own **Jack the Giant Killer** , including Thatcher, who played the evil magician/ruler Pendragon. Thatcher also played the Prosecuting counsel in Agatha Christie’s **Witness for the Prosecution** (opposite Charles Laughton’s very Rumpole-like Defender). And he wasn’t technically a villain, but he was a hard-hearted New England clergyman in **Hawaii** (he scenes shot in Sturbridge Village!) His last role that I saw was something of a letdown – he’s the “Good” priest in the original Star Trek episode “The Return of the Archons” and , for someone of his stature, they shoulda given him a meatier role. **Basil Rathbone** has been mentioned, but not **Vincent Price** , who could be wonderfully menacing as well as hammy, and played villains as well as put-upon heroes. the previously-mentioned **Anthony Hopkins** played a cillain in the lamentably awful **Freejack** , too (One of these days somebody will do Robert Sheckley stories _right_ in the movies, and also give him proper credit, instead of ripping him off). But my favorite Hannibal Lektor was the one played by **Brian Cox** , who has played other villains as well. Why no love for the crazies? If a plane carrying **Bruce Dern, Jack Nicholson, Anthony Perkins** (yeah, I know he’s already dead. Indulge me) and **Tom Noonan** crashed, they couldn’t make any more movies about insane but oddly likeable killers. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/28 "2007-03-06T13:34:34Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] Rutger Hauer’s my favorite villain. [/QUOTE] Yes, but you didn’t mention his role as Roy Batty in Blade Runner. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/29 "2007-03-06T13:55:40Z")
Gotta vote for Christopher Walken. **The Rundown** is his greatest villain performance? Not a chance! Try **The Prophecy** or even **Last Man Standing**. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/30 "2007-03-06T13:58:24Z")
I’ll jump onto the Christopher Lee bandwagon. He’s been playing Bad Guys since the late 1940’s, man - gotta give props for that. ---
**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:** [March 6, 2007, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/31 "2007-03-06T14:09:03Z")
Boris Karloff has been mentioned, but only sort of offhand. Unfortunately, I think his best roles were unfilmed, or never quite existed. I’d love to see him as Jonathan Brewster in **Arsenic and Old Lace**. He originated the self-referential role (“They say he looks like _Boris Karloff_”) onstage, and played it for a long time, but the play was still on Broadway when they filmed the movie, so Karloff couldn’t do it, and Raymond Massey played the role. I understand there might be footage of one of his portrayals that was done for TV. If so, I’d love to see it. He also played the Prosecutor Couchonof Joan of Arc in Anouilh’s play **The Lark/l’Alouettte** , but I’ve never seen it (It was filmed as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, so I might see it yet). Actually, I think he would’ve _killed_ as the same Prosecutor Cauchon in George Bernard Shaw’s play on the same topic, **Saint Joan**. I’d killed, myself, to see it. In any event, Karloff did play the Frankenstein monster three times, several mad scientists (including a Dr. Frankenstein), muderers and Body Snatchers, the Dick Tracy villain Gruesome, The Mummy, The magician Scarabus in **The Raven** (He’d also appeared in an earlier film of that name as a miurderer, opposite Bela Lugosi!), “Mothef Muffin” on The Man from U.N.C.L.E… …and he was **The Grinch**!!! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/32 "2007-03-06T14:35:18Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] I lean heavily towards [**Christopher Lee** , his villains are legion](http://imdb.com/name/nm0000489/) and he played Frankenstein Monster, Dracula many times, Grigori Rasputin, King Haggard in the last Unicorn, The best of all Rocheforts in the '73 The Three Musketeers & '74 The Four Musketeers & Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus. Then he topped these off with Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973) and Sauruman in the Lord of the Rings movies. He even has a Bond Villain on his resume as Francisco Scaramanga The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). Please note this was only the highlights of his villainy. Jim [/QUOTE] We were watching an old 60s film where he plays what we assumed to be a good guy, but his prescence and delivery just made you ever so unsure. The greatest of the bad guys for sure 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/33 "2007-03-06T14:46:02Z")
One of my favorite villains is [Danny Trejo](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001803/), who has been in many movies. He’s the bad-ass Mexican with the scarred face. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/34 "2007-03-06T15:02:34Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] Was Jack Palance on the AFI list? Gotta give him points for Shane, and for that Biblical movie where he played a wizard who tried to fly. [/QUOTE] Here is one version of [AFI’s 100 YEARS…100 HEROES & VILLAINS](http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/handv.aspx) and it appears that Jack Wilson from _Shane_ and Simon the Magician from _The Silver Chalice_ missed the list. A shame. It’s probably more about my age at the time and the lack of truly evil villains I had seen until then (what with B Western Bad Guys as my only real exposure to the world of villainy) but the completely amoral and cruel gunning down of the farmer in _Shane_ had me all primed and ready for Shane to blow this motherfucker’s guts all over the wall. Catharsis at age 12 or 13 helped to establish the pattern for rating villains for the rest of my life: if you want the son (or daughter) of a bitch to be killed in a most convincing way – and slowly – then this qualifies as the sort of villain to make such a Top 50 list. I also thought the flying magician was evil, but mostly (if I can recall) because Jack was playing him and it was shortly enough after _Shane_ that I assumed Jack was a badass in everything. In fact, it wasn’t until I saw him reading Edgar Allan Poe on Johnny Carson one night that I realized he was a human being with some redeemable qualities. And by the time he was Curly in Billy Crystal’s movies, I was able to love the old boy. But Jack Palance gets my vote because he seered evil into my mind at such a tender age. Number two would have to be Ralph Fiennes in _Schindler’s List_. Regardless of the charcter he portrays in other movies, he’s still the bastard Amon Goeth shooting down people in the compound. Too convincing a portrayal for me to shed my disgust over his breakout role. FWIW, Paul Newman took out a full-page ad in one of the trade papers (_Variety_ I believe) denouncing his own participation in _The Silver Chalice_ which preceded his rising to stardom in _Somebody Up There Likes Me._ Funny thing is, when I saw the movie I was more intent on hating Simon than even noticing Newman. He was dreadful, as I recall. And if I saw TSC again it was long enough ago that all I can remember is the shot of Jack not being able to fly. Whether it’s that way or not, I remember seeing him (or the dummy they tossed) fall all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/35 "2007-03-06T15:22:30Z")
[Ming the Merciless - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_the_Merciless) Max pissed me off every Saturday Matinee when I was a lad. Year after year. ---
**Author:** ![DangleYourModifier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@DangleYourModifier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DangleYourModifier)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/36 "2007-03-06T15:23:04Z")
Another vote for Christopher Walken. And Alan Rickman as my No2. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/37 "2007-03-06T15:28:53Z")
Going with someone no one has mentioned yet… I’m exceedingly fond of Pacino as Satan. _Who are you carrying those bricks for?_ ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/38 "2007-03-06T15:35:51Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] But geez, then you have Gary Oldman, who played DRACULA, and he was also kicked Harrison Ford’s ass in “Air Force One” and tried to kill Natalie Portman in “The Professional” and was so jerkish motor oil came out of his head in “The Fifth Element.” [/QUOTE] Didn’t he also play a rat-bastid drug dealer in **True Romance**? He’s a great bad guy. Maybe the best. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/39 "2007-03-06T15:45:39Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Didn’t he also play a rat-bastid drug dealer in **True Romance**? He’s a great bad guy. Maybe the best. [/QUOTE] Guy’s name was Drexl (or something close, and I’ll leave the IMDB lookup for somebody else) and I’ll add Oldman to my short list, too. _True Romance_ is also great for giving James Gandolfini the role that helped get him the Tony Soprano part. But “Virgil” was less a villain than just a thug. There’s a huge difference, at least for me. Thugs need beatings or getting humiliated; villains need to be gutted and burned and stomped on by a herd of zebras. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/40 "2007-03-06T15:48:50Z")
Huh? [(Travis Bickle is the #30 Villain? Was the pimp caucus overrepresented in the AFI vote?](http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/handv.aspx) I don’t know about top 50’s or who would be the only actor who could nail any given villian role, but for best cynical, calm, nasty old man who lets his vitims think he’s smarter than he is, I love [Cyril Cusak,](http://imdb.com/name/nm0159258/) from the John Hurt **1984** , the watchable version of **The Day of the Jackal,** and **Farenheit 451**. Also, Olivier had a great trick whenever he played a baddie: he’d do all the acting with the lower half of his face, while letting his eyes go dull and lifeless. Watch for this in **The Entertainer** or **Spartacus** right before Kirk Douglas spits in his face. Since you guys mentioned Karloff, don’t forget [Bedlam](http://imdb.com/title/tt0038343/) What a despicable little shit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777.md?page=3)