Great Villains, and Supporting Actors

Don't forget Steve Buscemi under character actors, and I always thought the original 12 Angry Men had some of the great character actors of the 50s and 60s, including Martin Balsam, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, and Ed Begley.

Although I didn't particularly care for the movie, it was unusual to see Harrison Ford as a villain in What Lies Beneath; not his best performance, however.

I'll second Mr. Wizard's observation about Agnes Moorehead in Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Great!

Wish I could remember the name of the movie in which Samuel Jackson was a fantastic villain.

Fantastic-villain. Is that an oxymoron?

Great thread, Booman.

Samuel Jackson was a villain in Unbreakable and in Eve's Bayou.

Thanks, Macsm.

Wow! Unbreakable was the one! That movie was great. What a shocker.

It does help to know the answer in advance. I didn't remember Bruce Willis, but I remembered Samuel Jackson. That, to me, is the hallmark of a stunning performance.

Aw shucks... ...Thanks Letty!.....No It's not an oxymoron, that's what this thread is about.

Sam Jackson in "Jungle Fever", as a crackhead, terrorized his own parents. He was also pretty villainous in "Jackie Brown".
"AK47, when you absolutely, positively gotta kill every MF in the room."
I wouldn't call him a villain in "Eve's Bayou." Just a lying, cheating, scalawag of a husband.

lol, eoe!

Right, Booman.

Good and bad and in between. To prove a villain, now there's the catch. After all, Rudolph Valentino would have been arrested and extradited and profiled and grilled. but what boxoffice and he never said a word. and to make matters even more involved, he was from Brooklyn...

Hey, we get to include the silents in here, don't we?

MICKEY ROURKE IN:

Nine 1/2 Weeks
White Sands
Johnny Handsome along with Ellen Barkin
Point Blank
Wild Orchid

Okay Letty, but I'll have to take your word for it when you go back that far.

Richard Widmark has been mentioned in a classic moment of villainy. I can remember James Cagney in two moments of unforgetable rottenness. One is the trend-setting, Grapefruit in the face, incident. Then there's my personal favorite from "White Lightning". After escaping from prison with a stoolie in the trunk of his car, he got a nights rest, and came out of his hideout and heard the poor guy knocking from the inside. With pseudo-sympathy he asks, "Aw what's the matter, is it hot in there? You need some air?"At which point he pulls his pistol, and empties it into the trunk. .....Chilling.

That grape fruit in the face is a Cagney scene I will never forget.

Bruce Dern: He started out on t.v. as a cast member on Stoney Burk. Then he made an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in which he murdered a farmer'S (Pat Butram's) wife's pet squirrel. His most infamous role: The Cowboys. He shot John Wayne in the back. He was also with Rosie Grier in the Two Headed Transplant.

Strother Martin: Best remembered in Cool Hand Luke. "What we have here is a failure to communicate."

L. Q. Jones sometimes teamed with Strother Martin as western bad guys.

Remember the bad guys in High Noon? They were Sheb Wooley, Lee Van Cleef, William Wilke. I forget who played Frank Miller. And the drunk that the marshall woke and set free was Jack Elam.

Lee Van Cleef wanted to be the "new Bogie" after Humphry Bogart died, but the movies did not see him that way. Probably best known for his parts in Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns.

Edgar Buchanon (sp?)
He played Judge Roy Bean in a film with Gary Cooper. He was Kirk Douglas's pal in "The Big Trees." In William Holden and Glen Ford's film "Texas" he was the arch villain and even "sang" a song. Best known as Petticoat Junction"s Uncle Joe on t.v.

Richard Boone was a character actor most of his career. "Have Gun Will Travel" was a top five program for a number of years.

Other character actors, Paul Sorvino, Warren Oates, and one of my favorites from the 50s and 60s, Sheldon Leonard. He must have been on every tv show in the 60s - he was the bartender in Its A Wonderful Life, and his last film role was as J. Edgar Hoover in The Brinks Job.

Oh! Sheldon Leonard played the mobster Steve Darcy in "Pocketful of Miracles". One of my favs!
Has anyone mentioned Peter Lorre?

Strother Martin was like Jack Elam, I knew and hissed them for years before I knew their names.