John Lithgow has had one of most unique careers of any actor in Hollywood. For decades, he's been more than a character actor, but was never quite the leading man either. He's been a highly respected and reliably excellent performer in roles of all kinds, across films and television shows of all genres.
But despite his charming, likable demeanor and undeniable comic talents, Lithgow has, throughout his career, played numerous villain roles. From serial killers and corrupt politicians to diabolical business tycoons, he's played just about every kind of villain role imaginable.
Senator Ronald Sperling - Miss Sloane
In 2016's political thriller Miss Sloane, John Lithgow plays Ronald Sperling, a U.S. Senator who is overseeing a congressional hearing designed to investigate possible ethics violations by lobbyist Elizabeth Sloane. She's trying to amass sufficient support to pass gun control legislation, and his aim is to kill the bill.
To give away exactly how villainous Sperling is would be to spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that by the end of the film, the script is flipped and Sperling is revealed to be more than a little corrupt.
Robert LaSalle - Obsession
Brian De Palma and John Lithgow collaborated numerous times throughout their careers, with great results. Obsession is a Hitchcock-style mystery thriller in which Lithgow plays Robert LaSalle, a real estate developer and partner of Michael Courtland, whose family is kidnapped at the film's beginning and die in a car chase with the kidnappers. Sixteen years later, Courtland remarries a woman who's reminiscent of his late wife.
The plot twist, revealing LaSalle to be the main antagonist in the film, is more outlandish than believable. For this reason, Obsession received mixed reviews - it's a fun genre film, but requires ample suspension of disbelief.
B.Z. - Santa Claus: The Movie
The premise of 1985's Santa Claus: The Movie is clever enough, even if the execution is a mixed bag. Dudley Moore plays Patch, an elf who has become embittered by the deteriorating working conditions at Santa's toy factory, not the least of which includes an increasingly difficult boss in Santa himself. He quits and gets a job in New York City, working for B.Z. (John Lithgow), a toy manufacturer.
B.Z.'s toy company is facing legal action due to their unsafe products. When it's discovered that their candy cane-shaped reindeer feed is literally explosively dangerous, B.Z. plots to flee the country and let Patch take the fall for the faulty product. In the end, the good guys prevail, but Santa Claus: The Movie is one strange Christmas film.
Earl Talbot Blake - Ricochet
1991's Ricochet is a truly wild movie starring Denzel Washington as Nick Styles, a heroic police officer-turned-assistant D.A., and John Lithgow as Earl Talbot Blake, a hitman who escapes from prison and seek's revenge against Washington's character for locking him up.
Blake's revenge scheme is as insane as it is intricate. It includes hiring a sex worker to "service" Styles against his will, giving him an STD and making it look as though he's an unfaithful husband. After destroying Styles' career, the final showdown between the two is a fight to the death.
Lord Farquaad - Shrek
The hit animated feature Shrek is based on a picture book of the same name by William Steig. John Lithgow's Lord Farquaad, however, is not a character in the book - he was created specifically for the film adaptation. He's a short but ruthless dictator who seeks to banish fairytale creatures from his kingdom while pursuing Princess Fiona's hand in marriage to officially cement his status as royalty. He sends Shrek on a mission to deliver her to him.
Shrek obliges, but when Farquaad realizes that Fiona becomes an ogress at night, he rejects her and sentences Shrek to death. Fortunately, he's eaten by a dragon before his wishes can be carried out.
Roger Ailes - Bombshell
John Lithgow plays Roger Ailes, the disgraced head of Fox News who was accused of sexual harassment by numerous women at his network, in 2019's Bombshell.
The film is more a showcase for its three female co-stars, two of whom were nominated for Academy Awards. Ironically, the film won one Oscar, for Best Makeup, owing to the convincing makeup job on John Lithgow to make him look like Roger Ailes, who was a considerably larger man than John Lithgow. In addition to looking the part, Lithgow gives a great performance as the doomed TV mogul.
Eric Qualen - Cliffhanger
1993's Cliffhanger is an action film directed by Renny Harlin, starring Sylvester Stallone as a mountain rescuer who's dispatched to the Rocky Mountains to save a group of stranded mountain climbers. As it turns out, the people he's sent to rescue are criminals looking for their lost loot of cash, which disappeared after a plane crash.
Lithgow plays Qualen, a former British intelligence officer and the ringleader of the gang. Because Cliffhanger's screenplay is rather frivolous, the casting of a great actor in the villain role was very important in raising the emotional stakes for the audience. A lesser actor would have played the role with less credibility, making Cliffhanger a forgettable adventure film, instead of the minor classic that it became, thanks largely due to Lithgow's performance.
Burke - Blow Out
Another John Lithgow-Brian De Palma collaboration, 1981's Blow Out is a terrific neo-noir thriller starring John Travolta as Jack Terry, a sound recorder for B-horror films. While on a recording mission, he witnesses a car accident and rescues a woman named Sally from the vehicle. He realizes, when listening to his recording, that it was no accident at all, but part of a complex plot by Burke, a political fixer (John Lithgow), to sabotage a rival candidate's campaign.
Aware that Jack is onto him, Burke sets out on a mission to destroy his evidence and kill Sally. Lithgow is relentlessly menacing in the role, making this one of his best performances in one of De Palma's best films.
Carter Nix - Raising Cain
Lithgow and De Palma team up once again in 1992 for Raising Cain, in which Lithgow plays a child psychologist named Carter Nix, who himself suffers a psychological collapse upon learning of his wife's affair.
His breakdown spawns the emergence of multiple personalities, including that of a merciless killer. The film isn't considered one of De Palma's best, but Lithgow earned widespread acclaim for his complex and terrifying performance in which he portrays five different "characters" all by himself.
Arthur Mitchell - Dexter
Better known as the "Trinity killer," Arthur Mitchell is one of television's most terrifying villains of all time, appearing in season four of the hit Showtime series, Dexter. Lithgow is brilliant in the role, making Trinity a truly unforgettable character, and cementing Dexter's status as a classic show.
There are countless terrific scenes featuring Trinity, but ironically, the most memorable murder he commits is one we are made aware of after his death. Dexter's discovery of Trinity's final kill is one of the most shocking and devastating endings to any episode of television ever released. Trinity is a villain for the ages.