Toon Talk Special: The 101 Greatest Disney Voice Artists - Part 2 of 2
Page 2 of 9

Bad Boys
As these men have proved, it's always more fun to play the villain.

Hans Conried

As the stage tradition goes, the actor playing the flamboyant Captain Hook in Peter Pan also plays the overbearing Mr. Darling, father of Jane, Michael and John. This tradition was not dropped in Disney's animated take on the tale, with veteran character actor Conried assaying both parts. As Hook, Conried created a memorable personification of the dastardly villain, one that is still emulated by current actors in the role.

Conried turned good for his next role at Disney, as Thomas Jefferson in the short Ben & Me. He then appeared in many memorable Disney television specials playing the Slave in the Magic Mirror, usually championing the "plights" of the Disney villains.

James Woods

(left) James Woods from Dirty Pictures - (c) Showtimes
(right) Hercules and Hades - (c) Disney

Inspired by modern day "lords of the dead", i.e. Hollywood producers, Woods turned in a hysterical performance as Hades in Hercules, one that has made him one of the most popular villains in Disney history.

Woods returned as Hades for the Hercules animated series and House of Mouse, and was also the evil principal Dr. Philliam Benedict in Recess: School's Out.

Johnathan Freeman

This accomplished Broadway stage actor (How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the current revival of 42nd Street) is drolly wicked as Jafar, the sultan's scheming Grand Vizier in Aladdin.  He returned as Jafar in The Return of Jafar, and on television in Hercules (where he teamed up with Woods' Hades) and House of Mouse.

Jeremy Irons

Known for his screen villains in Dead Ringers and Reversal of Fortune (for which he won an Academy Award), Irons was a natural for the role of the brother-killing, race-betraying, kingdom-stealing cowardly lion Scar in The Lion King. Irons delivers the obligatory villain song "Be Prepared" with a sly baritone amidst the megalomania.

On the other hand, Irons provided a slightly more subdued performance as the Narrator of Spaceship Earth starting in 1994 at Epcot.

George Sanders

Sanders gave a droll, flippant delivery to each of his lines as the carnivorous Shere Khan in The Jungle Book, as if it was an affront to his decorum to deny him the man cub Mowgli. His performance, an obvious inspiration for Irons' Scar, is deliciously evil, especially in his interrogation of that sneaky snake and fellow jungle predator, Kaa.

Tony Jay

(c) Disney

The best bad guy in the business today, Jay has lent his menacing tones to Monsiuer D'Arque, the sinister proprietor of the Maison des Lunes, in Beauty & the Beast; Judge Claude Frollo, the ultimate religious fanatic, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame; Shere Khan in Tale Spin, The Journey Into Jungle Book show at Disney's Animal Kingdom and the upcoming video sequel The Jungle Book 2; Wraith in The Mighty Ducks animated series and Dr. Rosenthal in Recess: School's Out.

He can also be heard in various roles on television in Gargoyles, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and House of Mouse.

Vincent Price

Talk about your classic movie villains.  After a long list of Hammer horror films and various other creepshows, Price made his Disney feature debut as Ratigan, the World's Greatest Criminal Mind, in The Great Mouse Detective. His scheming to take over the mouse kingdom of England, with Basil of Baker Street constantly on his tail, was the highlight of that film.

Price also inspired a young Tim Burton to create the autobiographical animated short Vincent, about a boy who is obsessed with Vincent Price. To repay the honor, Price provided the Narration for the short.