Played by: Donald Pleasence
Ernst Blofeld, the facially scarred, follicularly challenged, Angora-stroking chief of the international crime cartel SPECTRE — and James Bond’s arch-nemesis — is the archetypal cinematic evil genius. Donald Pleasence’s characterization of Blofeld, meanwhile, is marvelously weird and genuinely unsettling for one simple reason: Pleasence plays him with a calm intelligence that barely conceals the volcanic lunacy roiling underneath. Sure, Blofeld is a camp stereotype these days, and watching You Only Live Twice now it’s very, very hard not to see and hear Mike Myers’ Dr. Evil every time Blofeld moves or speaks. But try and forget Austin Powers and Mini-Me and all the rest, and instead revel in the sheer scope of Blofeld’s murderous mania for power.
Evil deeds: Extortion; murder (e.g., dropping a young woman into a pool of ravenous piranha); attempting to spark World War III and, in effect, Armageddon
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxteuPr28Xw]