All About Evil

32. Joanne Whalley-Kilmer (actress, Trial By Jury, Scarlett)

"I'd pick Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, though perhaps she was more tragic than a villainess. Yes, Baby Jane did terrible things, but Davis made you understand her--that's why she was such a great actress."

33. Jaclyn Smith (actress, "Charlie's Angels," Nightkill)

"I hated Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven, How could anybody be like that? She let that little boy drown, remember? Then she threw herself down the stairs to kill her own baby. Come on, that's the devil incarnate, They wanted me to star in a remake of that story. I said no way."

34. Kylie Travis (actress, "Models Inc.") "No one played evil the way Bette Davis did, and in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? she was at her most villainous. Her cold, men-acing behavior combined with her childlike qualities gripped my attention--after all, innocence combined with bitchiness is the only way to be! Although she tortured her sister, and was calculating and manipulative, you still rooted for her."

35. Bonnie Bruckheimer (producer, Gypsy, Man of the House)

"I loved the villainesses in All About Eve and The Last Seduction, but I remember that, as a small child, it was Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed who scared me to death. I'd never seen another child behave that way. and I was mesmerized: even though she could kill people, no one could see through her act. It was the first movie to make me appreciate that movies could thrill you in a different--adult--way."

36. Teri Garr (actress, Tootsie, Dumb and Dumber)

"Mercedes McCambridge was terrific in Giant. She never showed her good side to James Dean when she was alive, but she left him the land, which had oil under it Not that it made him happy."

37. Penelope Ann Miller (actress, Carlito's Way, The Shadow)

"I loved Bette Davis in The Little Foxes. She was such a great actress, she could make you believe that a woman would stand by and let her husband die despite his pleas for help."

38. Michelle Phillips (actress, Scissors, "Knots Landing")

"My absolute all-time favorite is Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction. She's my gal--evil incarnate! I love that her part didn't get softened into a 'woman's role,' in the sense that she didn't have to be good, heroic, someone who 'came through' in a pinch. She was an evil, neurotic, sick bitch--which is wonderful, because mostly what you get in movies is the good wife, the nice mother, the girlfriend. I tell you, I would have stumbled over myself to get that role."

39. Joan Plowright (actress, Dennis the Menace, Widows' Peak)

"There is something so uncompromising about Bette Davis in The Little Foxes--she doesn't seek sympathy at all. She plays it to the hilt, without indicating to the audience, 'I'm not really like this.' She wasn't like those stars who had to think of their 'image,' She would go from A to Z instead of from A to B."

40. Samantha Mathis (actress, Pump Up the Volume, Little Women)

"Sunset Boulevard is one of my favorite films, and I've always been taken by Gloria Swanson's performance as Norma Desmond. She's a tragic figure--but you know, she can be quite mean at times."

41. Rita Wilson (actress, Sleepless in Seattle, Mixed Nuts)

"I loved Anne Baxter in All About Eve. She wasn't exactly evil, but she was so Machiavellian that she was absolutely wonderful to watch."

42. Teresa Hill (actress. "Models Inc.")

"I thought Jennifer Jason Leigh was a great villainess in Single White Female, because she felt no remorse for her sins."

43. Debra Martin Chase (executive producer, Hank Aaron: Chasing she Dream)

"My favorite film villain is Anne Baxter's character in All About Eve, Eve Harrington. She represents the most dangerous type of villain: smiling in your face, ostensibly your most devoted friend and protector, and yet all the while surreptitiously working to destroy your life. Furthermore, she carries out her mission with style, grace and elegance in the best Hollywood tradition. Eve is truly a wicked woman."

44. Jo Anderson (actress, "Sisters," Dead Again)

"My favorite was Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity---I loved her character because she was so smooth, so classy, and had no shame."

45. Emma Samms (actress, "Models Inc.")

"I loved Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. Not only was it a riveting performance, but it also had such an impact that it kept men monogamous for a long time after the film came out."

46. Phyllis Diller (actress, Silence of the Hams, The Boneyard)

"The evil woman I love best is Bette Davis in Dead Ringer. The guts of that woman, to kill her twin sister--and then try to vamp the sister's lover!"

47. Claire Danes (actress, Little Women, "My So-Called Life")

"I love the evil Queen who becomes a witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and I love Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, I don't know, maybe I'm just hung up on witches. I'd love to play one someday."

48. Zsa Zsa Gabor (actress, Moulin Rouge, Picture Mommy Dead)

"Oh that's easy, honey--Barbara Stanwyck in Double indemnity because her eyes were so cold and calculating. Imagine arranging to have your husband killed for his money-- that's so terrible. You have to marry for love and when it's over you get rid of him, but you don't kill him! You remain friends with him, that's what I've done with all my husbands. I've married for love, not money-- and I've never killed any of them."

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Bob Thomas wrote "52 Pick-Up" for the July '94 Movieline

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