Actors who suprised you as a bad guy...

Tim Roth was a rather miserable character in Rob Roy.

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I just rewatched that recently, boy does it hold up. I'd never seen Roth as anything but a bad guy previously although he was only playing one in Reservoir Dogs.

But in Rob Roy he was absolutely loathsome and wonderful. He was the perfect foil to Liam Neesom's squeaking clean righteous wronged man character.

A really great film w/ one of the best sword fights ever too.
 
Yeah, when Ronny Cox did bad guys it was a major surprise to me as well (remember the TV series Apple's Way? He was almost sickeningly sweet in that role.)
Shows how much what you see them in affects your views of them. Everything I've seen him in, he's been an ass at best. Bad guy, crooked senator, egotistical captain.
I'd be surprised to see him in a good guy role.
 
How about Bruce Willis in The Jackal with Richard Gere? Willis is kind of like Robert Mitchum, where he plays down and out characters with some heart of gold showing through. Not in this movie. Ask Jack Black.

I'd say that killing Jack Black definitely shows his character had a heart of gold! :D I can't think of anyone less talented and/or more annoying than Jack Black.
 
Betsy Palmer as Jason's murderous mother in Friday the 13th part 1 and II. I am of course taking a liberty with the term 'bad GUY'... villain maybe a bit less gender specific.
 
Film: Wayne's World
Actor: Rob Lowe

Perhaps not so much a "bad guy" as a "sleezeball", but he put in a great turn as the most decidedly unpleasant character in the film's story.
 
Steve Carrell playing crazy John Du Pont in Foxcatcher has to be seen to be believed. Absolutely fabulous. He's unrecognisable.
 
And he was a lot of fun as the baddie in Fifth Element.

Gosh you guys covered so many bases in this thread. I didn't see Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man, though. The evil 'dentist', heh.

oops! Someone did get to ol' Larry before I did. Now I have to think of some fresh ones...

how about Ricardo Montalban as Khan, twice... more fun the second time, I think.

I always thought of John Huston as just a director but he did a few turns as an actor; his evil 'dad' in Chinatown surprised me:

Noah Cross : I don't blame myself. You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING.
 
Some recent film I watched had John Cusack (Lloyd Dobbler he shall always be!) as a redneck racist.

Oh yeah, PAPERBOY. It also had Matthew "whisper all my lines" McConaughey, Zak Effron and Nicole Kidman.

Who would have thunk Cusack could be positively evil?
 
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