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Best Movie Villainess — Open Thread

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When I logged onto AOL, I saw that they were running a poll to determine the “vilest” movie villains. Their poll reminded me that ever since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences once again slighted Tilda Swinton, that few women have done as good a job playing the villain as she did in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Thinking about movie villainesses (and talking about them with other movie buffs), a few names of other stellar & sinister performances came to mind, including Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate, Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, Kathy Bates in Misery and Dame Judith Anderson in Rebecca.

What great performances have I left out? Who do you think are the best female movie villians? Please feel free to offer your suggestions in the comments section or by e-mailing me.

Comments

  1. Angela Lansbury in “The Manchurian Candidate” Pure evil with no human feeling whatsoever. The cold and controlled near-hysteria in her eyes and face while she acts the passage below has to be one of the most chilling moments I’ve ever seen on film.

    “The speech is short. But it’s the most rousing speech I’ve ever read. It’s been worked on, here and in Russia, on and off, for over eight years. I shall force someone to take the body away from him and Johnny will really hit those microphones and those cameras with blood all over him, fighting off anyone who tries to help him, defending America even if it means his own death, rallying a nation of television viewers to hysteria, to sweep us up into the White House with powers that will make martial law seem like anarchy!”

  4. (Oh, gawd, my mind just went blank.) What’s his name — the British actor — as Hannibal Lector in “Silence of the Lambs”. It was the first time I got goose bumps watching a film.

  5. My nominee for AMPAS villainess of the year – hands down, it’s Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in “Mommie Dearest.” This role will outlive her when all is said and done.

    Regards,
    Peter Hughes

  8. Some outstanding villainesses that come to mind are Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon, Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, Lotte Lenya in From Russia with Love and Judith Anderson in Rebecca.

  11. Yeah, Double Indemnity is probably Billy Wilder’s best, although Sunset Boulevard gives it a run for the money. For that matter, I guess Gloria Swanson could make your list, too. Wasn’t young Fred MacMurray a hunk?

  12. OOOPS!!!!! Ignore my comment in number 4. I wasn’t paying attention and missed the “villainess”. I thought we were talking about villains of either sex. I have to agree with Kevin in #1, Angela Lansbury in “The Manchurian Candidate”.

  17. And since I’m going geek all on y’all. Zoltar, from the cartoon “Battle of the Planets” was portrayed as a male through most of the run of the cartoon, but was revealed to be a villianous chick toward the end of its run. How’s that for GEEK!!!

  18. Wasn’t there a poll done before where Malificent from Sleeping Beauty won the title? Or maybe that was Disney Villanesses.

    I can’t think of any villanesses. Someone mentioned Bette Davis and I thought of Another Man’s Poison. While not a villaness per se, I liked Devon Aoki as Miho in Sin City.

  23. #21 – I guess I’m scifi-geekhead too because the Queen in Aliens was one of the first villainesses to pop into my head. She lays low using the living bodies of innocents to grow an army that, once having consumed it’s original hosts, patiently waits for the next pray to stumble into her lair.

  24. I would have to go with Angela Lansbury in the Manchurian Candidate, as well.
    She has that psycho-sexual thing going on with her son, Raymond (in the book, she gives him a ‘bath’) as well as an unquenchable thirst for global power.

    She’s manipulative, demonic, murderous and always fashionable dressed. What’s not to hate?

    Interestingly, she was actually 2 years younger than the actor (Lawrence Harvey) who played her son in the movie and still managed to come across as his evil elder. A far cry from the cheery and child loving “Mrs. Potts” in Beauty and the Beast.

    With range like that, no wonder Vera can’t find a decent role for an “elder actress”.

    BTW: Streep crashed and burned in the role in the remake.

  25. #21. That was my next geek pick. Now if you really want to go all Sci-Fi, I would pick Barbara Striesand. She has devolved into some evil thing that is beyond comprehension, though the South Park guys probably came close to nailing it by portraying her as Mega-Striesand.

    Robert Smeeeeth! Robert Smeeeeth!

  28. I would add to this stellar list Linda Fiorentino from “The Last Seduction” (she played a character named Bridget Gregory) and Nicole Kidman in “To Die For” (just an amazing performance).

  29. Anne Baxter as the fabulously conniving little bitch “Eve Harrington” in 1950’s All About Eve.

    You mean to tell me this a gay blog and NOBODY mentioned this movie??? LOL

    Eric in Hollywood 🙂

  32. Dave, sonic, Marian — What about Natasha Henstridge in Species?

    I thought she was kinda boring! The better one would be the X-Files mutant alien thingy that changed sex after mating with humans, and emitted strong pheremones that would attract, then kill the victim in the process of getting it on.

  33. I have to go with the actress who inspired the evil queen in Disney’s “Snow White”, Gale Sondergaard. After winning the first Supp. Actress Oscar, she spent the latter years of her career doing little but playing villainesses. My favorite; Dorothy Lamour’s conniving aunt in The Road to Rio (“I hate you. I loathe you. I despise you.”).

    Also, there was the woman who played the Cordelia-like part in Kurosawa’s “Ran”. She was evil, I tells ya’!

  39. It’s actually Alice Krige (pronounced /KREE-guh/), not Kreig

    I’ve never heard of her, but if you are trying to use the German word for war at the end, it is spelled “Krieg.”

  41. The very first one to come to mind was Malificent from Sleeping Beauty and it’s nice to see others have already mentioned her. She didn’t set out to kill people. She was scorned by not being invited to a birthday party so she hatched an elaborate scheme to inflict pain and misery on Sleeping Beauty and her would-be prince. She chains the prince up (that’s a hot scene btw) while Beauty is put to sleep for decades and tells him the story of how she will keep him there til he’s old, gray, and decrepit, and then release him to ride his nag to free the princess. So much more interesting and cruel than just killing people.

    I like the complicated ones more than just straight out evil ones. I think that’s why I am so impressed with Kathy Bates in Misery. She’s so sugary sweet on the surface until you find out just how screwed up she is from living this solitary fantasy life.

  44. Good episode last night. Does the decision one Six make affect the actions of all the other Sixes. Could one Six side with the humans and another Six side with other Cylons and could this lead to civil war within they Cylon ranks. We’ll just have to keep watching this incredible show to find out. Its the reason I keep paying my cable bill each month even when I can’t afford to.

  45. The daughter in Mildred Pierce…what’s her name…Vita, that’s it…Ann Blythe played her…she’s a real piece of work…spoiled rotten and a first rate bitch. Lady Macbeth should also be in the Top Ten.

  48. Don’t forget the faboulus General Kala played by Mariangela Melato in Flash Gordon. I had a crush on her when I saw that movie. I really liked her golden helmet and her black-gold suit of amours she’s wearing in that movie. At the end Prince Barin played by Timothy Dalton
    cracked Kalas suit of armour with a shot out of a laser gun what made her inwards smoking broiling and melting and leaked out as a greasy oil, leaving only the helmet and the empty suit of armour laying on the floor