Hannibal chews his way to top film villains list

HANNIBAL “The Cannibal” Lecter, portrayed

Thu, 05 Jun, 2003 - 01:00

Anthony Hopkins in The Silence Of The Lambs, has chewed up the competition to top a US list of film villains.

And Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird has defeated an army of swashbuckling idols for the top spot on the American Film Institute’s list of top screen heroes.

The institute unveiled its ranking yesterday of the top good and bad guys (and gals) in American filmFinch, played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 classic, was a faultlessly noble widower raising a daughter and son amid Southern racial unrest as he defended a black man accused of raping a white woman.