Boris Karloff

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Boris Karloff

Of course no roster of villains is complete without the classic horror star Boris Karloff.

• Actor: Boris Karloff (1887-1969)
• Real name: William Pratt
• Classic villain roles: Frankenstein's monster, Fu Manchu, the Mummy/Im-ho-tep, Hjalmar Poelzig, the Grinch (among others)
• Special talent: dead intone of a voice
• Best quotes: "Are we not both the living dead?" and "We belong dead!"

The Monster

Karloff played Frankenstein's monster in 3 films: Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939). (He made other Frankenstein-related appearances but these are the major film roles). Bride of Frankenstein is universally recognized as the best of the three, and a classic movie of the 1930's era of film-making. It features the lovely Elsa Lanchester and a great soundtrack

Karloff's Monster is both pitiable and murderous. In some ways, Der Golem seems like the Monster's cinematic predecessor, but Karloff injects a real pathos into the role.

The Monster's first entrance in the first film. Notice how dead Karloff looks here!

Climactic ending of the Bride of Frankenstein

Rare color clip of Karloff clowing on the set of the Son of Frankenstein

The Mummy

Nice through-the-numbers rendition of the ancient mummy curse. (Or is this the original that all subsequent movies copy?) Karloff only wears the famous mummy makeup at the beginning of the film; for the rest of the time he glowers in human form. A subtle, menacing performance.

Cheesy trailer for The Mummy

Hjalmar Poelzig in the Black Cat

The Black Cat (1934) is a wonderful psychological thriller with excellent writing, acting and set design. Karloff is Poelzig, an architect and Satanic cult leader living in a fantastically modern house with sideways-moving "elevators", intercoms, "digital" clocks. Not to mention, a basement full of preserved dead women. For once, Bela Lugosi plays a semi-good character, Dr. Verdegast, who has been released from a POW camp. He's come seeking revenge against Poelzig who betrayed Verdegast during the war (I was never clear on which one -- WWI?) and made away with his wife and young daughter. Incidentally this movie has nothing to do with the story by Edgar Allan Poe of the same name, and only briefly features a black cat. Also, Lugosi's character was originally designed to be a baddie also, but the film was cut so as to portray him in a better light.

My favorite scene in the film is the one in which Karloff and Lugosi descend from the house into the depths of the fortress beneath, passing down stairs and through rooms to the lilt of Karloff's voice.

You say your soul was killed, that you have been dead all these years. And what of me? Did we not both die here in Marmorus 15 years ago? Are we any the less victims of the war than those whose bodies were torn asunder? Are we not both the living dead? And now you come to me, playing at being an avenging angel, childishly thirsting for my blood. We understand each other too well. We know too much of life.

Other good scenes include Karloff at the Satanic ritual scene and near the very end where Lugosi begins flaying him alive. Karloff's scream there is really one of the best male screams in filmdom. And finally, the unintentionally hilarious line from Lugosi: "Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not."

Do you dare play chess, with me, for her?

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) is a classic, well-known bit of Christmas TV that plays faithfully every year. Karloff played both the narrator and the Grinch in this Dr. Seuss adaptation, a half-hour film by Chuck Jones. Getting close to his death at this time, Karloff sounds grandfatherly in the narrator voice but agelessly nasty as the (unreformed) Grinch.

The Gunslinger - Yul Brynner

The Gunslinger

• Character: The Gunslinger
• Actor: Yul Brynner (1920-1985)
• Movie: Westworld (1973)
• Based on the book by: Michael Crichton
• Profession: Entertainment robot
• Hobbies: Having bullets removed
• Notable accessory: silver contacts
• Pros: Excellent shot, high endurance
• Cons: Vulnerabilties to acid, Richard Benjamin's mustache
• Best Quote: "Draw." (He doesn't say much.)

 

I have a soft spot for cheesy low-budget-ish 70's sci fi movies. Westworld is a perfect example. In the near future, robots are advanced enough to populate adult theme parks, where they can be shot, stabbed, and screwed with abandon. Something goes wrong with the computers though, and the robots become disobedient and downright murderous. Richard Benjamin ends up being stalked relentlessly across the three parks and into the control area by Yul Brynner, the "Gunslinger."

Some would say that Brynner's Gunslinger was an inspiration for the Terminator, an unstoppable gun-wielding robot. Or perhaps a descendant of the Golem, another human invention turned monstrous. Brynner's stomp is matched and enhanced by Fred Karlin's fabulous soundtrack in which instruments are pounded to the rhythm of the stalker's march.

The Gunslinger returned for a bizarre cameo in FutureWorld (1976) where he is the fantasy lover of an ?android? woman. Hardcore fans will want to check out this bad quality YouTube clip complete with barking dog.

Westworld - the Gunslinger

Of course, Brynner was more famous for earlier roles in The Ten Commandments, the King and I, and The Magnificent Seven. But I'll always remember him as the gungslinger in black with silver eyes.

The man they call Jayne

All Firefly images copyright Fox. Please don't sue me.

Jayne ... the man they call Jayne

• Character: Jayne Cobb
• Actor: Adam Baldwin (born 1962)
• TV Show: Firefly
• Movie based on TV Show: Serenity
• Profession: Thug
• Favorite weapon: gun named Vera
• Hobbies: Working out, being in his bunk
• Pros: Strong, good shot with a gun
• Cons: Not very smart, occasionally prone to treachery
• Best quote: "I'll be in my bunk"

Jayne Cobb is a macho space thug who's in it primarily for himself. Not particularly bright, he gets the stock Joss Whedon role of saying the dumb things for comedic value and occasionally stating the obvious that no one else wants to say out loud. It really is a shame that Firefly was canceled, for among a cast of great characters Jayne was one of the most memorable.

This character is the originator of the phrase "I'll be in my bunk." For those of you unfamiliar with the geek parlance, this is a euphemism for going off to masturbate after being turned on. In Jayne's case, it was seeing the shipboard courtesan entertaining another woman that triggered the comment.

Jayne probably sent more than a few to their bunks with his ripped physique and unshaved chest.

How Jayne became a member of Serenity

The Jayne-centric episode "Hero of Canton" has a group of sad proles mistakenly worshipping him as a Robin Hood style hero. They erected a statue in his honor and wrote a song about him. Here is the Firefly boxed set easter egg where Adam Baldwin sings the song, badly. He's wearing the hat that Jayne's mother sent him in another episode.

Hero of Canton

Other Adam Baldwin roles

Baldwin (no relation to Alec Baldwin and his brothers) has been in a number of movies and TV shows. He was a villainous lawyer with supernatural strength on Angel for a time. He got a little bit of fame in My Bodyguard (1980). He was also in a bad 80's movie called Bad Guys. Some Baldwin fans may really enjoy this borderline NSFW video of all the sexy clips from the movie edited to an appropriate 80's pop song: Boys Boys Boys.

Most recently Baldwin has a regular cast role in the TV show Chuck which is apparently a bumbling spy comedy type show. I watched it once, ascertained Baldwin was not playing anything remotely villainous or shady and lost all interest. Your mileage may vary.

David Warner

David Warner (born 1941) is a British actor who originally made his name in the British acting scene with his Hamlet. He missed the boat when it came to A-list stardom in the U.S. Warner is well-known among serious movie fans and sci-fi geeks but not the general populace. This puts him dangerously close to being a character actor when his acting skills and presence are of a better caliber. He has been nominated for a number of awards and won a daytime Emmy for "Masada."

Warner was in a few odd movies in his youth, including From Beyond the Grave (1973), but his career in genre roles really kicked off with his famous role as the reporter who is decapitated in The Omen (1976). A string of roles as the baddie in Time After Time (1979), Time Bandits (1981) and TRON (1982) as well as playing Nazis a few times cemented Warner as villain par excelence. He even played Frankenstein's monster in a TV version of Frankenstein, which also starred Carrie Fisher.

In the 90's and beyond Warner played good-guy roles such as a peace-seeking Klingon in Star Trek VI (1991) ,the leader of the underground libertarians in the mini-series "Wild Palms," (1993) and a mild-mannered ape elder in "Planet of the Apes" (2001). He had a role in the very popular 1997 Titanic. He's also done a lot of TV and voiceover work for cartoons and video games in the past two decades. One TV appearance of note was his appearance in Star Trek: Next Generation as Gul Madred, the Cardassian who tortured Captain Picard and very nearly broke his will.

David Warner always shines best as a villain, in my mind, so here we'll focus on a few of his roles as dubious characters.

Jack the Ripper - Time After Time (1979)

A dapper Ripper

Malcolm McDowell is nearly insufferable as H. G. Wells in this so-so time-travel suspense flick. Warner is the saving grace as the cynical gentleman surgeon John Stevenson -- Jack the Ripper -- fleeing into the future where he can commit more crimes with impunity in San Francisco, circa 1979.

H.G. catches up with the Ripper

Evil - Time Bandits

Warner played the villain in another time-travel flick, Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits." The Evil character is strange, a Monty Python-esque villain with little resemblance to any known version of Satan or Lucifer that I'm aware of, beyond his use of temptation and deception. The role gave Warner a chance to play it bad to the point of silliness but not beyond, to really get his British sneer on and engage in some dark comedy.

Classic Evil scene

Tron

Here Warner played a triple villain role: Dillinger, the boss man in the real world; Sark, the servant of the Master Computer Program in the virtual realm; and the (heavily altered) voice of the Master Computer Program itself which straddles both realms.

This Tron clip has some scenes of Warner as Sark in an admittedly goofy outfit.

Star Trek: Next Generation

Not much to say here except bravo on the casting of Warner as a fascist, torture-happy Cardassian. STNG is a ho-hum show to me, but I did get a kick out of Warner tormenting Stewart. (Nice gams, Patrick!)

Unfinished business

Warner Rarities

Thanks to the magic of YouTube you can now see many of his lesser-known and harder to obtain work. There are snippets of his much-famed Shakespearean acting. Fans of the "weird unsettling 70's movie" will enjoy From Beyond the Grave, where Warner gets the first vignette as a man possessed by a mirror. Peter Cushing and his trinkets do away with a number of other unfortunates, in a malevolent horror Twilight Zone sort of way.

From Beyond the Grave pt.1

David Warner as Frankenstein's monster

Warner on MST3K

An actor can hardly get around as much as Warner did and not feel the sting of MST3K's sharp collective tongue. In Quest of the Delta Knights, Warner plays the goodie and the baddie in a pretty stinky Renaissance Faire movie. Crow T. Robot quips "just in it for the money, folks" and I'd call that a fair assessment.

Best of the Quest of the Delta Knights

Eww, wizard whizz!

The Mighty Monarch

All images this page copyright Cartoon Network. Please don't sue me.

Speaking of men in pointy crowns, who doesn't love the Mighty Monarch?

• Character: The Monarch
• Actor: Bruce McCulloch/Jackson Publick (born 1971)
• TV show: The Venture Brothers
• Occupation: Arch-villain
• Arch-nemesis: Dr. Venture
• Marital status: Married to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch
• Hobbies: Maniacal speeches. arching Dr. Venture
• Special Powers: functional costume wings, wrist darts of varying toxicity
• Pros: Trust fund baby, owns flying ship shaped like a cocoon, with an escape pod also ingeniously designed like a cocoon
• Cons: Incompetent henchmen
• Best quote: "Gentlemen, I like my ass!"

A young Monarch sans headgear

The Monarch is the most frequently featured villain on the Adult Swim show "The Venture Brothers." His rich parents were killed in an airplance crash; he survived and tried to emulate the monarch butterflies that "adopted" him. For reasons unknown at this time*, he targeted Rusty Venture from college and has never given up his obsession with getting Dr. Venture. A trust fund inherited from his parents enabled him to build a cocoon ship and hire henchmen. His long-time girlfriend Dr. Girlfriend (now Dr. Mrs. The Monarch) designed the Monarch's costume, ship, weapons, and is the true intelligence behind his operations.

Classic Monarch rant is interrupted by a medical condition.

Writers McCulloch and Eric Hammer must have some fun with the Monarch although McCulloch has said he doesn't enjoy all the whininess involved in voicing the character.

*Possible spoiler: I'm pretty sure that The Monarch is Dr. Venture's half-brother. I base this on the following: Venture's father was known for being a lady's man and probably sowed a lot of wild oats in his youth; both the Monarch and Rusty Venture are skinny guys with red hair and pointy noses; the name of the show; and the first episode having Monarch "go all creepy uncle" on Hank and Dean.

A very Jory Oberon

Copyright: All images from "Midsummer Night's Dream" belong to Warner Brothers. Please don't sue me.

• Character: Oberon
• Actor: Victor Jory (1902-1982)
• Movie: A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Occupation: Fairy King
• Married to: Titania the Fairy Queen
• Hobbies: Eavesdropping on mortals, henchman grooming, flower magic shenanigans, sparkling
• Notable accessory: Crown
• Pros: Fantastic voice, nice outfit, ability to fly
• Cons: Ruff that won't stay down, goofy pout
• Best quote: "Fare thee well, nymph"

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, they're screen captures from YouTube resized and optimized a bit in GIMP.

Be as thou wast wont to be; See as thou wast wont to see: Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower Hath such force and blessed power. Now, my Titania My sweet queen Awake.

*The original Shakespeare was heavily butchered for this movie.

Victor Jory is perhaps best known (unfortunately) to modern audiences as the slavedriver from Gone With the Wind. He was also noted for playing The Shadow, with a voice well suited to the part.

Jory was fabulous as Oberon. At first stern and menacing, he later becomes tender and dare we say, a bit goofy. To enjoy Midsummer Night's Dream you will have to endure the scamperings of Mickey Rooney in furry underpants and other silliness. Jory's ruff blows up in his face while he's trying to lead a solemn procession of fairies into the night. His performance is worth the price of admission (and so too is James Cagney's very amusing Bottom). This movie also has a great soundtrack based on Mendelssohn's music for the play, with lovely bass harp notes signifying Oberon's presence.

Warning: Midsummer Night's Dream contains ballet sequences with 5 year old girls not wearing anything above the waist besides bad wigs. It's strange to see in this era, but back then it was considered innocent. Just figured I'd point that out in case it's considered Not Safe For Work at more prudish places of employment.

One more note about the movie versus the original, racier Shakespeare: the deleted lines from Oberon and Titania seem to imply that they both indulged in extramarital dating of mortals. Also, their last scene omits some lines saying that the fairies will be dancing through bedrooms, blessing any offspring conceived on the big night of merriment. Funny to think that Depression-era Hollywood was more staid than Renaissance England.

Buy Midsummer Night's Dream from Amazon.com

Oberon newly in amity with Titania, left, and Victor Jory striking a boxing pose, right.

Bonus edition: Blake's 7 villains

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Before turning attention away from Blake's 7, I have to give a shoutout to series villains Servalan and Travis. If you enjoy good old-fashioned evil perpetrated by classically trained British actors, this is the stuff for you!

Servalan

• Character: Servalan
• Actress Jacqueline Pearce (born 1943)
• TV show: Blake's 7
• Occupation: Supreme Commander of the Federation
• Marital status: single (potential husbands likely to have limited lifespans)
• Hobbies: fashion, man-eating, galactic domination
• Notable accessories: fancy dresses, lipstick
• Pros: intelligence, strong will and deviousness well-suited for villainy
• Cons: high heels don't travel well in BBC quarries
• Best quote: "Power became my lover."

Servalan could be described as an intelligent British Joan Collins in space. At first bent on defeating Blake, she later turned her attention to domination and expansion of the Federation. She always wore elegant outfits, even while out in the field, and clearly enjoyed having her way with men. Jacqueline Pearce made Servalan a truly memorable character and one of the mainstays of Blake's 7.

An excellent fanvid of Servalan set to Queen's "Killer Queen":

Here is a bizarre schtick by Jacqueline Pearce at a convention of unknown date in Chicago. She bashes men and then tells a very strange Not Safe For Work retelling of Cinderella. I am not embedding the video because I'm feeling strangely prudish about the melon business. You have been warned!

Tale of Two Travises

• Character: Travis
• Actors: Stephen Greif (born 1944) and Brian Croucher (born ?)
• TV Show: Blake's 7
• Marital status: single (probably snogs the Mutoids when nobody's looking)
• Hobbies: Hunting Blake, torture, sulking
• Notable accessories: tight black jumpsuit, eyepatch, artifical arm, puffy ring that shoots an explosive ray
• Pros: dedication to the job
• Cons: gets a lot of crap from the boss

Greif's Travis with Mutoid

Travis was a psychotic Space Commander obsessed with killing Blake. He could never escape being Servalan's lackey, which gave him a somewhat tragic, oppressed quality.

Here Greif's Travis prepares to attack with the help of his mutoids, troops with unquestioning loyalty and enhanced physical strength but dependent on blood serum infusions. Later in this episode he sort of sexually harasses the pretty Mutoid, then throws her to the wolves. This is incongruent with a later episode in the series where it is shown that he took care of his "men". But maybe that was a literal statement.

Croucher's Travis doesn't get a whole lot of love from the fans. If you want to watch him other than his death scene, you'll have to seek out full episodes on YouTube. I personally enjoyed his portrayal, but then I always liked the men in black. Dr. Who fans might recognize Croucher as the guy in "Robots of Death" who gave the Doctor a hard time and received an Avon-eque insult in return.

Servalan inappropriately touching Croucher's Travis

UPDATE: after having seen the extremely stinky episode "Voice From the Past" and succeeding episodes, I can see why some fans might dislike Croucher. I think the blame partially rests with the writers and directors, but Croucher's vague cockney accent and intermittent poor line delivery don't help either.

Inaugural post - Avon calling

All images on this page copyright BBC. Please don't sue me.

This blog is dedicated to the semi-baddies, the villains turned good, the persons of dubious character, from the silent era to current and television, film, and anywhere else I find them. Some genuine through-and-through evil villains may appear also.

That stated, who better to lead off with than Avon, that computer genius of silky-smooth sneer from Blake's 7. It's the role that actor Paul Darrow will always be remembered for, from a cheaply-made BBC sci-fi series that ran from 1978-81.

• Character: Avon
• Actor: Paul Darrow (born 1941)
• TV show: Blake's 7
• Occupation: Computer genius on the run
• Marital status: single (killed the love of his life, twice)
• Hobbies: Computer canoodling, sneering, occasional snogging
• Notable accessories: black leather with metal studs, big shoulder pads
• Pros: Silky smooth sneer
• Cons: Sneer can get annoying
• Best quote: "I have never understood why it is necessary to become irrational in order to prove that you care, or why it should be necessary to prove it at all."

"All brains, no heart" Avon gets a little dust in his eyes after Blake tells him he's always trusted him from the beginning.

Kerr Avon was the morally ambiguous counterweight to the idealistic Roj Blake. Avon was the voice of cold reason. His main priority was survival, but he was also keen on acquiring wealth and control of the Liberator. Avon had no compunction to kill or otherwise wreak violence in self-defense. He was an absolute bully to Vila, the show's dim-witted, cowardly thief. But he was always brutally honest and had a certain nobility about him. Hints of a warmer nature sometimes emerged from behind his stoic facade.

Blake's 7 is not available on U.S. region DVDs. There are ways to view B7 in the states but I'm not going to ruin these avenues by laying them open to lawyers. Email me for more info. (Hey BBC - why not post B7 on your website with ads, so American viewers can watch and you can still generate revenue off your investment?)

There are many fan videos of Blake's 7 on YouTube. Here are a few amusing ones:

Avon's insults and jibes

Acceptable in the 80s where Avon is getting most of the snogging, as the British put it.

Blake's 7 Out-Takes (Series 3)

Want more Avon? Check out the Paul Darrow Society page which as of this posting has up-to-date news about Darrow. Give a listen to Oxfordshire radio station Jack FM where Darrow can be heard doing funny call signs in his best Avon voice in between 60's-90's pop/rock tunes.

Further reading

Many Blake's 7 books have been published since the show aired. Consider purchasing Darrow's book You're Him, Aren't You which has good ratings on Amazon.com. Paul Darrow penned a short book called "Avon: A terrible Aspect" Carol Publishing, 1991, which I must admit I remember nothing from except there being a sex scene in there somewhere. "Blake's 7 Programme Guide" Virgin Books, 1994 has a section of quotes from the major characters which can be an entertaining read. For those with deep pockets there is more B7 merchandise available - models, teleporter bracelets, guns, etc.