Great Villains of the 1980's

[sleeve]

Many of you have mentioned some excellent singular villains: Thulsa Doom, Lo Pan, Nicholson's Joker, and so on.

But as Mr-K pointed out, I'm really looking for the actors who made their careers in the 1980's playing a certain type of villain. Billy Zabka is an excellent example (The Karate Kid, Just One of the Guys, and Back to School), but a lot has been written about him already on the internet and even in GQ magazine. So I'm looking for some of the more offbeat, weird-looking guys who carved a unique villain niche.

Ronny Cox is a great example. Really talented musician, too; he's an interesting guy.

Some others I intend to feature are Kevin McCarthy (UHF and Innerspace; the perfect "evil rich tycoon" caricature), Paul Gleason (Breakfast Club, Trading Places, Die Hard), and Ted Knight (Caddyshack!).

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

[Mr-K]

Kevin McCarthy (UHF and Innerspace; the perfect "evil rich tycoon" caricature)

I don't really think of Kevin McCarthy this way, mainly because I associate him as either A: the star of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or B: the washed up guy in Pirranha or Ghoulies 3.

Jeffery Jones I think would be a better example. Nobody what I see him in, he's always going to be some sort of raging asshole regardless of what character he's playing. And this stems from Bueller, Beetle Juice and... isn't he a bad guy in Howard the Duck too? And he's a real life skeezbag too!

What about Rutger Hauer?

Absolutely.

[arjue]

While Rutger Hauers best roles are as villains from the 80's, he did a lot of work where he wasn't a villain too.

[The_Meach]

Paul Gleason

Two weeks, asshole.

[Gooch]

Admittedly this is a questionable entry but I'm going with it anyway because the role was career defining/rejuvenating post-Easy Rider and Apocalypse Now.



Keep on fighting, DH.

[arjue]

Of 200 or so movies Dennis Hopper has been in, only 27 were made in the 80's, and most of that seems to be voice work for cartoons.