Played by: Imelda Staunton Like Bellatrix, Umbridge is another character only improved in the films with Imelda Staunton's turn as the hideously pink professor intensifying the already loathsome character. At Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts in The Order of the Phoenix, Dolores Umbridge is installed as a teacher at the school to act as a spy for Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge to keep an eye on rival Albus Dumbledore. Soon though, her steel heart hidden beneath a fluffy pink cardigan is revealed as she usurps more and more power from Dumbledore until she finally becomes the new Headmistress of Hogwarts. As Headmistress, Umbridge proves to be a despot who wields her power with an iron - if maybe gloved in pink - fist. Compared to the fantastical, cackling, calculating figures dressed all in black appearing in the rest of this list, Umbridge proves the vilest because she feels the most real. We've probably all met someone like Umbridge, someone not only condescending and generally irritating but also ruthless to the core. So detestable is she that we bet you're finding it hard to look at the photo above. Well, clicking next will give you a reprieve. Though be warned, He Who Must be Number One has not exactly got a pretty face.
