The Wicked Witch of the West

Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West is the first movie villain most people ever encounter, and for many, she remains the most frightening. The green skin, the cackling laugh, the army of flying monkeys, the message written in smoke: 'SURRENDER DOROTHY.' Hamilton played the role with such ferocious commitment that she terrified generations of children and established the template for the fairy-tale villain that has endured for nearly a century.

The Wicked Witch works because she is the opposite of everything in Oz. Where Oz is colorful, she is monochromatic. Where the Good Witch is gentle, she is violent. Where Dorothy is innocent, the Witch is ancient and malevolent. She is the embodiment of the threat that exists in every fairy tale — the darkness at the edge of the enchanted forest, the monster under the bed, the adult world of cruelty that children sense but cannot yet name.

Hamilton's performance was physically dangerous — she was badly burned during the fire effect in her Munchkinland disappearance scene and required weeks of recovery. Her commitment to the role went beyond what the studio required, and the result is a performance that has become part of the American subconscious. The Wicked Witch is the first villain, the original nightmare, the green face that launched a thousand childhood fears.