Here's to the Scoundrels

Two of my favorite movie villains have died in the past day or so -- rather, the actors who played them. The characters themselves both bought the farm in their respective flicks, of course. Ricardo Montalban played the superhuman Khan in Star Trek 2, which as everyone knows is the second-best of the Trek films. I was pretty young when I saw that movie, and even then I thought this foreign-sounding fellow was a darn good actor. I found him to be a charming baddie, which was a new concept for a youngster who was used to black and white at the movies.


Then there's Patrick McGoohan, another of the best big screen bad guys. Back in 1995, Braveheart hit the screen and instantly became my all-time favorite movie in any genre. It still is -- got me interested in medieval history, Scotland, Celtic music and epic film-making all at once. I watched Braveheart seven times before it left theatres, and many more times since -- once in Scotland even! Anyhow, I think the role could not have been played better by anyone. He even had me hating the English for a short while as an impressionable teenager.

These actors have long resumés, many great works to their credit, but I'm afraid I've not seen any of them except for these two films. No matter, they made their mark on me and millions of others. I hope they took with them some satisfaction for excelling at their chosen work.