8 - Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins)
The surprise of Sir Anthony Hopkin's selection is not that he fully committed himself to the role, but rather that Jonathan Demme would consider the Welshman for the part of Hannibal Lecter at all. Another middle-aged Brit had gotten the role and Brian Cox's portrayal in Manhunter (1986) was as forgettable as it was over-shadowed by an inspired Tom Noonan. Lecter was a man of wiry strength, maroon-colored eyes, and a six-fingered left hand. Hopkins was a un-imposing, mild-mannered TV movie / British film mainstay with no hint of the lurking homicidal animosity he would bring to the genius, yet sociopathic gaze of Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991). Yet magic struck and Hopkins destroyed the archetype for mass murderers on the silver screen in a career-defining role, earning the only Academy Award of his career and cementing his legacy as one of the great actors of a generation.