August 20, 2015

Yes, it was harder to come up with this list than the one of male villains, but in cinema history there are some juicy choices, indeed!  I mean, you got your Bette Davis feeding her sister her dead bird in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (’62) or angel-faced Gene Tierney letting a little boy drown in “Leave Her to Heaven” (’45).  And if those two don’t tickle your fancy, you have Patty McCormack, an adorable little girl, drowning a little boy in “The Bad Seed” (’56).  One thing all these ladies have in common is that you wouldn’t want to get any of them angry.  So, with those precious thoughts, I give you “The Twenty Greatest Female Villains”. See link to Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed…Classic.

In no particular order…

1. Bette Davis     Baby Jane     What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (’62) Frightening opening scene
2. Piper Laurie     Margaret White     Carrie (’76)
3. Gene Tierney   Ellen Berent Havland     Leave Her to Heaven (’45)
4. Kathy Bates     Annie Wilkes     Misery (’82)
5. Katherine Hepburn     Violet Venable     Suddenly Last Summer (’59)
6. Louise Fletcher     Nurse Ratched     One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (’75)
7. Glenn Close     Alex Archer     Fatal Attraction (’87)
8. Jessica Walters     Evelyn     Play Misty for Me (’71)
9. Sissy Spacek     Carrie White   Carrie (’76)
10. Angelica Huston     Lilly Dillon.    The Grifters (’90)
11. Charlize Theron     Aileen Wuornos    Monster (2003)
12. Olivia de Havilland     Miriam Deering     Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (’64)
13. Patty McCormick     Rhoda     The Bad Seed (’56)
14. Faye Dunaway     Joan Crawford.    Mommie Dearest (’81)
15. Barbara Stanwick     Phyllis Dietrichson     Double Indemnity (’44)
16. Shelley Winters     Mrs. Rose Forrest     Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (’72)
17. June Allyson     Ann Downs     The Shrike (’55)
18. Zoe Tamerlis Lund     Thana    Ms. 45 (’81)
19. Angela Lansbury     Mrs. Eleanor Shaw Iselin     The Manchurian Candidate (’62)
20. Shirley Stoler     Martha Beck     The HoneyMoon Killers (’69)