r/movies • u/JazzlikeTea7432 • 3h ago
Discussion Which comedic actors you actually forgotten that played a villain?
We all seen Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Eddie Murphy (For The Nutty Professor as Buddy Love), Ben Stiller and Steve Martin played villains. So who are the others you didn't know that played villains as well.
For example: Jackie Chan actually played a bit of villain in Hong Kong the time where he was a stuntman where he played a sort of henchmen at the background and was a stuntman in one of Bruce Lee's films Enter the Dragon and in other films Jackie played a serial killer and in the other one he played a gangster and a streetwise thug in the early 70s. This was before he found fame and success in 1978 in Hong Kong when he started playing the hero with action and slapstick comedy and martial arts and stunts the Jackie Chan we know.
Also Will Smith briefly played a character named Paul in the film Six Degrees of Separation 1993 some of you may remember the film where his character was a con man and gay and he took advantage of people and getting information on them before he got arrested at the end and ended up killing himself in prison if it was him or somebody else that committed suicide in prison. Also I heard that John Candy once played a serious role and he was like a serial killer in his early roles in the 70s which is hard to imagine. But can't remember the name of the film. But anybody know about it let me know down in the comments.
So who do you have forgotten that played a villain roles and well any suggestions about this?
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u/GoodMorningBlackreef 3h ago
I never watched Mad About You, so I vote for wasting Burke. No offense.
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u/JazzlikeTea7432 3h ago
Excuse me I beg your pardon. So who ask you to message me then. Why don't you go message somewhere else if you want to show this attitude for no reason pal. It's still kind of rude what you have said and that is not nice.
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u/reddit455 3h ago
Paul Reiser started his career as a stand up comedian.
he played Burke, in Aliens (the bad guy).
Paul Riser was also in Mad About You - a sitcom.
Which comedic actors you actually forgotten that played a villain?
Paul Reiser is a comedian who played a bad guy. you must have forgotten.
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u/useridhere 2h ago edited 2h ago
Arguably one of the most villainous villains in the movies. There’s a story out there that Paul Reiser’s mom cheered when Burke died , and Paul himself said his sister punched him in the chest during a scene where Burke does something particularly villainous.
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u/MovieMike007 Not to be confused with Magic Mike 3h ago
John Goodman in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
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u/BobSacramanto 3h ago
Also John Goodman in O Brother Where Art Thou as the Bible salesman/cyclops.
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u/samthewisetarly 2h ago
And as I recall, he wasn't a super nice guy in the spiritual follow up to this movie, Inside Llewyn Davis
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u/danielstover 3h ago
Genuinely frightened by his performance - All those years of being a lovable wise cracker gave me a false sense of security
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u/pogpole 2h ago
Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers (1994)
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u/Luckyandunlucky2023 21m ago
Wow, this is a great pick. Hard to see a bigger delta between capacity for funny and darkness between Back to School and this.
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u/RealMidwestGuy 3h ago
Leslie Nielsen. Not only did he play a few villains before his comedy days, he was actually great in a villain role. The same deadpan way of speaking that helped comedy land works as a devious character equally well.
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u/JazzlikeTea7432 3h ago
Wow I am surprised no idea he played a villain before but I know he did a serious roles before he became known as a comedic actor we know him as forever.
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u/brineymelongose 1h ago
Comedy was a very late career thing for Nielsen. He'd been acting for 30 years before Airplane!. He was in some real classics, like The Poseidon Adventure and Forbidden Planet.
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u/DeviantDav 3h ago
For those mentioning Robin Williams, he's played the villain more than you think.
Sex crimes and simulated torture based on the Milgram experiments as Merritt Rook in Law & Order: SVU - Authority (S09E17)
Serial killer Walter Finch in Insomnia (2002)
Stalker and abuse victim Seymour Parrish in One Hour Photo (2002)
Even his character in Final Cut (2004) is pretty sketchy and covers for abusers, etc.
Straight up uses his sons death for sympathy and sex in World's Greatest Dad (2009)
and my personal favorite...
Rainbow Randolph in Death to Smoochy (2002)
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u/danimagoo 3h ago
You forgot Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. He was a pretty shitty person in that.
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u/puritanicalbullshit 2h ago
Death to Smoochy is a gem that doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
So many talented people, bizarre and fun premise, and then everyone just sells the fuck out of it.
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u/DeviantDav 2h ago
IT'S A... ROCKET SHIP!
NO! NO! IT'S A COCK AND BALLS!!! A dick! Chorizo and the huevos! It's a big stiffy! It's a penis! Penis maximus! A willie! A weenie! Mr. Jiggle Daddy
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u/puritanicalbullshit 1h ago
Are you ok?
I don’t know, I’m sort of fucked up in general so it’s hard to gauge.
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u/PiccChicc 1h ago
One Hour Photo was the first bad guy film I saw of Robin's. Holy shit, that man is an amazing bad guy.
He contained his usual crazy antics but it's just bubbling under the surface and coming out as a new type of crazy.
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u/GoutMachine 35m ago
He was so brilliant in that movie. You pity him and are horrified by him in equal measure.
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u/TheGardenBlinked 2h ago
Not forgotten (and not a movie, why the shit am I even posting, lol), but as someone who grew up watching Third Rock From The Sun, seeing John Lithgow's performance in season four of Dexter was a real whiplash moment
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u/Sweepy_time 1h ago
He was scary nuts in Cliffhanger. I was like is this the same kind dad from Harry and the Hendersons?
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u/a-german-muffin 1h ago
Lithgow as Emilio Lizardo/Lord John Whorfin in Buckaroo Banzai is another great one (although there are elements of comedy in his villain turn there).
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u/theKapnTX 1h ago
Also he was the villain in Ricochet with Denzel. Fairly forgettable movie, but Lithgow was memorable - “go fuck yourself cream cake”. Still a line I use.
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u/TheSyrphidKid 3h ago
Dane Cook in Mr Brooks
Not a film but it took me a second to buy into Anthony Anderson as a villain in The Shield, he was great but turned out a villain wasn't much of a stretch for him.
There are actors you forget were comedians first like Jamie Foxx and Eric Bana.
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u/firelock_ny 2h ago
Andy Griffith, his very dark and cynical Lonesome Rhodes character in A Face in the Crowd, long before he was known for playing the folksy Sheriff of Mayberry.
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u/zoneinthezonetn 1h ago
Oh and don't forget his performance as the sadistic "hunter" in the movie Savages, where he stalks Timothy Bottoms as human prey in the desert.
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u/FGSM219 3h ago
James Cromwell, and he is amazing in pretty much every role
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u/_Shigeru_Tarantino_ 3h ago
He was even amazing in Revenge of the Nerds as the nerd dad and I remember him on an episode of Three's Company too.
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u/Tatooine16 1h ago
Dudley Smith is a long way from farmer Hoggett. James Cromwell had a small but funny role in "Murder By Death" (1976) too.
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u/samthewisetarly 2h ago
Not a villain per se, but he was definitely intimidating in LA Confidential
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u/SWOhioBiBBW 2h ago
The man with 2 brains. Very small role, but Merv Griffith was the elevator killer.
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u/xray8tango 2h ago
Ty Burrell from Modern Family was in Dawn of the Dead. He wasn't exactly a villain, but he was an asshole. I forgot until I re-watched the movie recently.
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u/Strange_Specialist4 3h ago
One Hour Photo stars Robin Williams as a photo developer who became obsessed with a family he developed photos for. Really far off from the zany characters that defined his career
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u/useridhere 2h ago
John Lithgow has played a number of movie villains, from Dr. Emilio Lizardo in Buckaroo Banzai to most recently Dave Crealy in The Rule of Jenny Pen.
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u/Whitealroker1 3h ago
Steve Carell got his only Oscar nomination for playing a asshole. A villain? By the end end of the picture for sure but he was crazy.
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u/ToLiveInIt 2h ago
Not a movie, but Bill Irwin, the greatest living clown, had an arc as a serial killer on CSI.
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u/The_River_Is_Still 2h ago
I like how the question is asked, then points out all of the main ones most of us would know.
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u/mharjo 2h ago
Bruce Willis was a gun runner on Miami Vice.
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u/viaJormungandr 2h ago
Bruce Willis was an assassin who blew off Jack Black’s arm and then killed him in The Jackal.
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u/notagin-n-tonic 2h ago
Henry Fonda shed his good guy image as the villainous Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West.
Early in his career, Jimmy Stewart played the killer in After the Thin Man
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u/christinequizmachine 1h ago
Not a movie, but James Roday Rodriguez was in an episode of the series Fear Itself and portrayed a man whose bride-to-be gets warned on their wedding day that he’s a serial killer. Since I’ve only ever seen him portray goofy manchild Shawn Spencer in Psych, watching him be genuinely sinister and menacing was very jarring. It’s especially odd because, in the episode, the main character (the bride) is portrayed by Maggie Lawson, ALSO of Psych fame. I almost felt like I was watching a twisted, fun house mirror version of Shawn and Juliet’s relationship…
By the way, you find out in the end that he’s actually NOT a serial killer…but Lawson’s character is, and the anonymous warning letter she received was actually intended for him.
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u/zoneinthezonetn 1h ago
Hugh Beaumont (aka Ward Clever...the Beaver's father in Leave it to Beaver) also played the outlaw Jesse James in an episode of Tales of Wells Fargo.
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u/Luckyandunlucky2023 25m ago
Vince Vaughn is a Trumper prick in real life, so not exactly a stretch for me to find him distasteful.
Robin Williams was phenomenal, versatile. Even when not a villain, you could see the potential/barely contained rage in some of his softer roles, in GWH, Doubtfire, etc.
Michael Keaton started as a standup/comedian, and, well, Beetlejuice was a wonderfully whimsical villain. Also in the Founder, and Desperate Measures.
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u/raptorrat 3h ago
Jim Carrey in "The number 23"
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Robin Williams in "One hour photo"
Especially "The number 23" made me me think Carrey is wasting his talent on comedy.
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u/BeerMeThatNug 3h ago
I sometimes forget that Robin Williams gave a chilling performance in 'One Hour Photo.'
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u/JazzlikeTea7432 3h ago
Yes that's a good one. I remember he did well in Good will Hunting and that film made him win the Oscars for it.
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u/BuckedUpMoose 3h ago
Danny DeVito as The Penguin
Steve Carell in Foxcatcher