We’ll start with the worst of the worst. Not in terms of the actor, of course, but anyone who has watched “Game of Thrones” and/or “Harry Potter” knows that David Bradley’s character in each franchise is utterly despicable. In the former, the veteran actor played Lord Walder Frey, a bitter old coot best remembered for one horrible event: the Red Wedding.
For those unaware, the Red Wedding is the moment in which a family known as the Freys betray and murder heroic leader Robb Stark (Richard Madden) during his campaign against the Lannisters. During the shocking sequence, Robb’s pregnant wife is stabbed to death while he is plastered with arrows and beheaded, his corpse displayed for all to see. All of Robb’s men are killed and even his mother, Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley), incurs a gruesome death while screaming at the top of her lungs. All the while, Walder Frey watches from his table with amusement.
Naturally, “Thrones” being “Thrones,” old Frey eventually gets his comeuppance, but fans had to wait until Season 8 to enjoy the payoff.
Bradley’s “Harry Potter” character, Argus Filch, isn’t quite as grotesque, but he does goes out of his way to invent new forms of punishment for the children of Hogwarts. Otherwise, he’s a perfectly harmless old man, skulking around the castle with his cat, Mrs. Norris, and whose cantankerous persona often results in humorous interactions with his costars.
