DAILY DIRT: Rickman’s memorable sheriff tops our list of 1990s bad guys

Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Hopkins and Kathy Bates are right behind … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,087 of The Daily Dirt

1. I’ve often found the villains far more interesting than the heroes in many major films.

After all, heroes are kind of predicable, right?

That’s why today we begin a three-part look at some of the most entertaining villains from the past three decades. We start with the The Daily Dirt’s picks for the best silver-screen bad guys of the 1990s:

Gold medal

Alan Rickman as the sheriff of Nottingham in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991): He far outshone star Kevin Costner, who portrayed Mr. Hood. Rickman’s role was a great follow-up to his role of bad guy Hans Gruber in “Die Hard” (1988). Rickman, who provided numerous memorable one-liners in his failed attempt to bring down Robin Hood, was one of the industry’s most versatile — and effective — performers before his death in 2016 at age 69.

Silver medal

Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goth in “Schindler’s List” (1993): He was the commandant of a World War II concentration camp, and to say this film was emotionally intense would be an incredible understatement. Fiennes/Goth personified evil.

Bronze medal

Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs” (1993): A genius, psychiatrist, serial killer and cannibal all in one, movie villains don’t get much more impactful than Hannibal Lecter.

Honorable mention

Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in “Misery” (1990): That extremely disturbing “hobbling” scene involving James Caan is always the first thing that comes to mind concerning this film.

Tomorrow: The 2000s.

2. Did you know (Part 152)

• That the king of hearts is the only king in a deck of cards without a moustache.
• That the “color” people see in complete darkness is called “eigengrau”.
• That the fear of beards is called “pogonophobia”.
• That fingernails grow at an average of 3.47 millimeters per month.
• That Brazilian prison inmates can have sentences reduced by reading books. With each book read, an inmate’s sentence is reduced by four days.

3. In case you were wondering, here are the real names for some celebrities:

• Jamie Foxx’s real name is Eric Marlon Bishop.
• Queen Latifah’s actual name is Dana Elaine Owens.
• The birth certificate for Ludacris reads Christopher Brian Brudges.
• Snoop Dogg’s real name is Calvin Cordazar Broadus Jr.
• Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Marage-Petty
• Whoopi Goldberg’s actual name is Caryn Elaine Johnson

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Kind of like being known as Stevie Dirt or Stevie Love, eh?

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. I didn’t think Stevie Love was still alive.