# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/41 "2007-03-06T15:51:33Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] [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. [/QUOTE] What, they played the 1980 _Flash Gordon_ movie every Saturday when you were a lad? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/42 "2007-03-06T15:52:47Z")
The Warner Brothers trio: **Humphrey Bogart** was a terrific villain – completely untrustworthy and nasty, but able to project otherwise. Once he started playing the hero, people tended to forget how good he was as a bad guy in **The Petrified Forest, Dead End, The Roaring Twenties** and **Brother Orchid** , among many. Same for **James Cagney** , if only for **The Public Enemy** and **White Heat**. And, of course, **Edward G. Robinson** for **Little Caesar, The Whole Town’s Talking** (where he had a dual role and was more than convincing as both the villain and the hero), and **Key Largo**. ---
**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, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/43 "2007-03-06T16:04:44Z")
[QUOTE=Chanteuse] My dad once told me that Jack Elam was one wicked SOB in a lot of old westerns. And I saw a movie clip that showed JE shooting at a frightened toddler, so I have to believe it! But it was all ruined for Dad, once he saw _Support Your Local Sheriff!_ After that, he could never take the man seriously again! Oh, and let us not forget Alan Rickman’s stint as a cold-blooded murderous bigot in _Quigley Down Under_. Whatever you may think of the movie itself, the chilling way AR describes what he actually wants from Quigley is pretty creepy! [/QUOTE] Your dad and I had the same basic reaction to Jack Elam in [Rawhide (1951)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043959/) which tried to make Tyrone Power into a hero and Susan Hayward into a sympathetic mother. Elam taking shots at that baby (when I saw the movie after I was an “adult”) was almost comedy, but for the pre-teen I was the first time I saw it, that was almost as mean and nasty as Jack Palance turned out to be a couple of years later. Palance put the tin lid on cold-blooded evil in Westerns. I can’t think of any other actor to surpass his extreme hatefulness. Elam was hilarious in one of those Cannonball Run flics as a proctologist, and he and Strother Martin were the M. Emmet Walsh and Harry Dean Stanton of the earlier decade(s) – meaning the movie couldn’t be all bad if those guys were in it (a wonderful topic for another thread if anyone feels up to starting it off). ---
**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, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/44 "2007-03-06T16:07:17Z")
This guy isn’t particularly well-known as a bad guy, but Daniel Benzali’s role in \*\*All The Little Animals \*\* labeled him a Supreme Rat Bastid in my eyes for all of eternity. [http://www.scottjordan.com/html/pages/LRTables/mission-coffee.html](http://www.scottjordan.com/html/pages/LRTables/mission-coffee.html) He is truly something you want to scrape off your shoe. (Incidently, this is a great movie.) ---
**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, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/45 "2007-03-06T16:16:29Z")
[http://www.vintagelibrary.com/CliffhangerSerials/Flash-Gordon.html](http://www.vintagelibrary.com/CliffhangerSerials/Flash-Gordon.html) It was weekly ,so we hated him every week. ---
**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, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/46 "2007-03-06T16:16:55Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] [http://www.scottjordan.com/html/pages/LRTables/mission-coffee.html](http://www.scottjordan.com/html/pages/LRTables/mission-coffee.html) [/QUOTE] Yo, **Kalhoun** , that is one subtle link! Isn’t Benzali that bald-headed guy who’s been a meany in quite a few courtroom types of roles? (I could go look him up, but I just had to ask about the table 🙂 ) ---
**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, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/47 "2007-03-06T16:19:06Z")
D’oh! :smack: > **[All the Little Animals (1998) ⭐ 6.7 | Adventure, Drama, Thriller](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120584/)** > > 1h 52m | R (hangs head in shame) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/48 "2007-03-06T16:20:23Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] 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. [/QUOTE] I just watched **Sexy Beast** yesterday. I can’t decide who was more horrifying – Kingsley with his manic insanity or Ian McShane with that deadeyed stare. I don’t get the title of the movie though. The beast in Gal’s nightmares wasn’t particularly sexy, and neither was Kingsley. Christopher Walken – damn, I had managed to get his character in At Close Range out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/49 "2007-03-06T16:21:24Z")
I’ve gotta go with [Bill McKinney](http://imdb.com/title/tt0068473/) , with [Herbert “Cowboy” Coward](http://imdb.com/name/nm0184662/bio) as a close second! ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/50 "2007-03-06T16:30:32Z")
Henry Fonda in “Once Upon A Time In The West” - solely because it’s so anti-Fonda. VCNJ~ ---
**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, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/51 "2007-03-06T16:31:26Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I just watched **Sexy Beast** yesterday. I can’t decide who was more horrifying – Kingsley with his manic insanity or Ian McShane with that deadeyed stare. [/QUOTE] Ooooh…that may be the most evil character evah. He was painful to watch. That was an academy award performance, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/52 "2007-03-06T16:36:34Z")
Ralph Fiennes in “Schindler’s List” was about the nastiest bastard I’ve ever seen on screen, and he was a nasty piece of work in “The English Patient,” too. His Voldemort doesn’t do much for me, though. He’s not at his best without his nose, I guess. But I actually came here to mention Lee van Cleef and Henry Silva. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/53 "2007-03-06T16:38:57Z")
[QUOTE=DJ Motorbike] Yes, but you didn’t mention his role as Roy Batty in Blade Runner. [/QUOTE] I didn’t see him as a villain in Blade Runner. I totally sympathized with him. You didn’t? 😉 Now Sean Young – she was villainous. Maybe it was the acrobatics – she looked like she was having too much fun. edited to add Lee Van Cleef and Henry Silva – yes! What is it about pronounced cheekbones that make people look so scary? ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/54 "2007-03-06T16:43:05Z")
I have to nominate \*\*Kiefer Sutherland - \*\* He has managed to make me \*hate \* him in such movies as Eye for and Eye, A Time to Kill, Stand By Me, Freeway and gave me the creeps in Phone Booth [IMDB link](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000662/) ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/55 "2007-03-06T16:49:07Z")
I also want to add - [Michael Wincott](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000699/) - with his voice and look he does well as bad guys. One more - Jack Nicholson - great in Batman, A Few Good Men and The Witches of Eastwick ---
**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, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/56 "2007-03-06T16:55:30Z")
[QUOTE=kelly5078] But I actually came here to mention Lee van Cleef and Henry Silva. [/QUOTE] I concur with both and would put them on my top 20 list, I believe. _Sharky’s Machine_ just wouldn’t have worked (and my main reason for owning the DVD is Rachel Ward, the music, and Atlanta) without Silva’s inspired villainy. His gunning down Gassman was nearly as cathartic as the Dar Robinson fall at the end. Reynolds preventing him from killing himself was a nice touch, too. Do you remember Silva in _Green Mansions_? He was also an insider with the Rat Pack. Quite effective as well in the _real_ **Manchurian Candidate**. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/57 "2007-03-06T16:58:54Z")
Although there are some fine villains mentioned here, Alan Rickman is still the boss. Because Kevin Costner, in ‘Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves’, actually cut Rickman’s part- to avoid be out-acted. ---
**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, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/58 "2007-03-06T16:59:14Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I didn’t see him as a villain in Blade Runner. I totally sympathized with him. You didn’t? 😉 Now Sean Young – she was villainous. Maybe it was the acrobatics – she looked like she was having too much fun. edited to add Lee Van Cleef and Henry Silva – yes! What is it about pronounced cheekbones that make people look so scary? [/QUOTE] Did you mean Daryl Hannah instead of Sean Young? If not, the acrobatics of both Daryl and Joanna Cassidy outshone Sean’s – unless I’m forgetting something (and I’ve seen BR at least a dozen times). ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/59 "2007-03-06T17:03:50Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Did you mean Daryl Hannah instead of Sean Young? If not, the acrobatics of both Daryl and Joanna Cassidy outshone Sean’s – unless I’m forgetting something (and I’ve seen BR at least a dozen times). [/QUOTE] :smack: You’re right. Pris (Hannah) was the one I was thinking about. ---
**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, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777/60 "2007-03-06T17:21:11Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] :smack: You’re right. Pris (Hannah) was the one I was thinking about. [/QUOTE] Good deal. If you don’t mind my saying so, **AuntiePam** , I believe that in topics relating to TV, movies and such, our tastes and interests, as well as things we’re familiar with, overlap more than 75% of the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-villian-actor-of-all-time/394777.md?page=4)