10 Actors Who Died As Heroes (& Then Lived To Become Villains)

3. Paul Newman

Died A Hero - Cool Hand Luke

In a packed market of films about defiance - and prison films about defiance specifically - Cool Hand Luke is the flag-bearer of stories about characters who are imprisoned, but whose spirits are free. In that respect, there could only ever have been two possible endings for the titular rogue hero: triumphant escape or tragic death. And there's nothing quite like the power of the latter to add something to the mythology of a character.

He is a hero to other prisoners - and a sort of idol for hope - and a scourge of the guards until one final escape attempt ends with him dying as you'd expect after defiantly taunting his mortal enemy Boss Godfrey. He's shot in the neck and dies with a smile on his face, free on his own terms.

But Became The Villain - Road To Perdition

Newman's charm and his looks made him a viable option across the hero spectrum (even when playing outright criminals) throughout his career, but he was always most at ease playing losers and rogues. Even his titular role in Hud isn't really played as a villain, despite his actions. It took until Road To Perdition for him to really play the bad guy, as Irish mob boss John Rooney.

Rooney is a man deeply entrenched in the underworld, but who chooses his son over honour and puts a hit out on Tom Hanks' hitman Michael Sullivan, betraying their relationship. It's not his criminal activities, but that injustice that confirms his villainy.