Clancy Brown

While many of you may not recognize the name Clancy Brown, there is no mistaking his voice. Deep, Intimidating, Evil, it can turn even the toughest Girl to mush. And Mr. Brown uses the gift of his voice to best effect by playing villains. After a brief, and slightly scary appearance as the Kurgan in Highlander (whom Moonstone inexplicably claims is Hot), Mr. Brown went on to play Captain Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption, which I've already noted is one of my favorite films. As the head guard, Captain Hadley is in charge of, shall we say, discipline.

It starts off with some minor verbal abuse when Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, first entered the prison. You'll eat when we tell you to eat, indeed, Mr. Brown. Of course, this discipline soon escalates when Captain Hadley beats a prisoner to death for crying, and later when he beats one of The Sisters for abusing Dufresne. That unlucky fellow spent the rest of his years at a minimum security hospital drinking his meals through a straw. (Huh. It's possible I've seen this movie too many times.) Anyway, the colossal prick even threatened to toss Dufresne off the roof of the prison building they were tarring for offering innocent financial advice, but I'm always a sucker for a man in uniform, especially if it comes with a billy club. He poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life into that billy club. Oh. Wait. That was Sauron with the One Ring. Well, I'm sure Captain Hadley liked his billy club, too.

Mr. Brown also plays the voice of ultrasupervillain Lex Luthor in the Superman Animated Series, as well as occasionally playing Mr. Luthor in Justice League. Even animated, there's just something about Our Fine Mr. Brown. And even though I haven't seen all that many episodes, Mr. Brown plays Evil Preacher Justin on the HBO Series Carnivale. He can kill people with the power of his mind and when he's rebaptized, the holy water turns to blood. My God, that's evil.