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When the B Monster asked a cross-section
of film and publishing professionals to name their five
favorite bad guys, to no one's surprise, many of the actors
cited fell into the horror category. All genres were well-represented,
however, and the performers listed range from the mainstream
to genuine obscurity.
Tom Weaver
Writer (Fangoria; Starlog;
Universal Horrors; Mutants, Monsters and Heavenly Creatures)
1. Lionel Atwill
2. Basil Rathbone
3. John Carradine
4. Bela Lugosi
5. Peter Lorre
Bill Warren
Writer (Keep Watching
the Skies; Set Visits; contributing editor to Maltin's
Video Guide)
1. Humphrey Bogart
2. Peter Lorre
3. James Mason
4. Christopher Lee
5. Alan Rickman
"Ask me tommorow, and you
might get a different list."
Fred Olen Ray
Director (Dinosaur Island;
Attack of the 60 ft. Centerfold; Invisible Mom)
1. William Smith
2. Sid Haig
3. Leo Gordon
4. Lee Van Cleef
5. Mike Mazurki
"And I worked with every one
of them."
Visit
Fred Olen Ray's web site.
Charles Kilgore
(who went above and beyond
... ) Editor/publisher
(Ecco magazine)
1. Philip Ahn
One of the U.S.-born actors who portrayed evil orientals
in Hollywood movies, Philip Ahn was often seen as the
"inscrutable," proverb-babbling stereotype.
He was Dr. Fong in Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor,
Ching Foon in Confessions of an Opium Eater, Lin
Cho in John Farrow's China, and Colonel Kuroki in the
John Wayne vehicle Back To Bataan. He also appeared
in the schlocky 1972 horror film Voodoo Heartbeat.
2. Audrey Campbell
In three 60s low-budget sexploitation films, Audrey
Campbell became an icon of the leather and lace set with
her portrayal of the dope-peddling, slave-selling dominatrix
Madame Olga. She began with the White Slaves of Chinatown
and worked her way up to Madame Olga's House of Shame.
There were other roles for her, but none so memorable.
Being evil has rarely seemed so enjoyable.
 3.
Martin Kosleck
On screen, Martin Kosleck was the kind of Nazi that
everyone loved to hate. He portrayed Joseph Goebbels five
times, as well as portraying myriad other German officer
roles. He also starred in such cult horror films as The
Mummy's Curse, House of Horrors, and Flesh Eaters.
In the latter, he was an unrepentant Nazi.
4. Henry Silva
Puerto Rican actor Henry Silva was often cast as a
ruthless villain. This was epitomized in William Asher's
1962 gangster film Johnny Cool, which starred Silva.
He was also menacing in the rape-revenge western The
Animals, and paid his dues appearing in Eurotrash
such as the spaghetti western The Hills Run Red
and the crime film The Italian Connection. He can
currently be seen in Wim Wenders' The End Of Violence
(1997).
5. Erich Von Stroheim
One of the first film performances of "The Dirty
Hun," as he was known, was falling off a roof in
D.W. Griffith's silent classic The Birth Of A Nation.
He later essayed his patent "evil German" in
Griffith's Hearts Of The World, where he tosses
an infant out of a window before ravishing its mother.
He later appeared as a mad doctor in The Crime Of Dr.
Crespi and as a mad ventriloquist in The Great
Gabbo.
Bryan Senn
Writer (Golden Horrors: An Illustrated
Critical Filmography of Terror Cinema; Fantastic Cinema
Subject Guide; Drums of Terror: Voodoo in the Cinema)
1. Lionel Atwill
2. Bela Lugosi
3. Vincent Price
4. Lee Van Cleef
5. George Zucco
Visit
Bryan Senn's home page.
Robert Clarke
Actor (The Man From Planet X;
The Hideous Sun Demon; The Body Snatcher, Beyond the Time
Barrier)
1. Boris Karloff
2. James Cagney
3. Humphrey Bogart
4. Jack Palance
5. Edward G. Robinson
Ted Bohus
Editor/publisher (SPFX; Chiller
Theater) Director (The Regenerated Man; Vampire Vixens
from Venus)
1. James Cagney
2. Rutger Hauer
3. James Woods
4. Robert De Niro
5. Edward Norton
Greg Mank
Writer (It's Alive; The Hollywood
Hissables; Karloff and Lugosi; Hollywood Cauldron)
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Five bad guy actors:
1. Laird Cregar
2. Boris Karloff
3. Bela Lugosi
4. John Carradine
5. Basil Rathbone
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Individual performances
John Barrymore - Svengali
Boris Karloff - The Body Snatcher
John Carradine - Hitler's Madman
Laird Cregar - Blood and Sand
Brian Donlevy - Beau Geste
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