Soap Villains Who Were Truly Scary

[dragonflies]

yes early Ryan Chamberlain, OMG Jon gets this look in his eye when he's playing Ryan and it freaks me the hell out

[Efulton]

Sven Peterson terrified me as child.  Alma Rudder (Elizabeth Franz) on Another World was pretty scary too when she was dressed up as a doll and torturing Blaine Ewing (Laura Malone).

[titan1978]

I found Faison on GH kind of chilling up to his Ron C penned return.  There was a period of time where he just seemed unhinged and dangerous, instead of foolish and a cartoon. Like a coiled snake.

 

Ryan during his initial storyline was really terrifying.  Sheila during her initial story through her first run on B&B was scary.

 

Was the Brent/Marian storyline on Guiding Light scary?  I know lots of people hated Lucy but I’ve seen some scenes that were menacing from that story.

 

On the other side- I was entertained by Stefano but never afraid of him.  Same with Helena Cassadine and James Steinbeck.

 

 

[Faulkner]

I thought Frank Beaty brought a very dark, unhinged quality to his performance, and as we learned, that story took its toll on him IRL.

 

I remember thinking James Patrick Stuart as Will Courtlandt on AMC was pretty unnerving as a kid growing up, but yikes at this scene.

 

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[soapfan770]

 

Was that when a recast actor temporarily took over the role? It was pretty abrupt as Brent/Marion kidnapped Lucy on NYE and then coming back after the holiday they had hired some temp actor who was indeed creepy themselves. 

[Faulkner]

I remember that, yeah. And Beaty only came back to wrap up the story.

[Khan]

 

It's terrible how AMC wrote out Will with no hope for redemption.  Who knows?  They might have been able to bring him back down the road -- if not with JPS, then maybe with another actor.

[j swift]

AMC's Billy Clyde Tuggle was a real menace.  Given that his victim Jenny was being pushed into working at a sleazy bar in Center City by her own mother, Opal, we knew that Jenny wasn't safe and anything could happen to her.  His voice and demeanor were terrifying.  Around 1997 I saw Matthew Knowles at a CBS party attended by his wife Christine Baranski and I instinctively gasped.   I know people will comment about how he became a parody of himself as a character during the Dixie storyline.  However, in his initial introduction, he seemed like a real unchecked threat and he freaked me out.

 

Additional mentions go to Y&R's  Vanessa Prentice, (she was scary because everyone underestimated her as a bitch and not an evil villain), early Marco Dane OLTL,(super creepy with Tina), and Y&R when David Kimbell had "murderer" carved into his forehead it really made me nervous to watch, especially because it evoked Charles Manson memories (from when he carved into his forehead during his trial).  And finally Billie Hayes as Scorpio's WSB mentor O'Reilly, not because of the character who was amusing, but Ms. Hayes's voice scared me on HR Puffenstuff as a kid. 

 

  

[YRfan23]

Though they are not the typical soap "Villains" both Y&R's Katherine and especially B&B's Stephanie have their moments of being absolutely terrifying, especially when they both fly into a rage. Most of those moments where in the earlier days of the shows though. 

 

[Khan]

 

Once, when Matthew Cowles was in Theater for a New Audience's 2012 production of "The Taming of the Shrew," he sat next to yours truly on the front row.  (This particular production had a framing device, where Cowles, as Christopher Sly, is duped into believing he's a rich lord, and that the rest of the company is putting on the play for his (and our) amusement).  It was all I could do NOT to say, "I can't believe I'm sitting next to Billy. Clyde. Tuggle."

[Paul Raven]

Darlene Conley as Rose DeVille (Y&R)

 

Rose was quite willing to 'deal with'  those teen runaways she sheltered if they got a little uppity in any way.

 

Bill Bell used Rose as the villianess on 3 separate occasions.

[Brolden]

Also, in 1979 ATWT had that storyline at the Willows with Bennett (Doug Higgins) and Hester (Ann Stanchfield). Bennett didn't turn out the actual villain, but both he and Hester were quite scary at times. Perhaps not so much to our 2010's eyes, but I would imagine in 1979 this was quite a creepy storyline.

[teplin]

AW's Sven -- the actor (Roberts Blossom) played it very creepy.

[Faulkner]

I was trying to find some clips of him in the role, since I know there’s some late ‘70s AW material on YouTube. Came up short on that front, but I stumbled on this:

 

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[Faulkner]

Given daytime’s predilection for resurrecting and “redeeming” rapists and disturbed, abusive men, it’s to AMC’s credit that they put him under ground and kept him that way. When a serial killer can become a heartthrob on daytime, it feels like very little is beyond redemption.