Rodney

I'm glad somebody finally mentioned him. A great job by Kevin Spacey.

Off the top of my head, here are some notable characters from the '60s and earlier:

The Fat Man in "The Maltese Falcon" (Sydney Greenstreet)

Frankenstein in the movie of the same name (Boris Karloff).

Dracula (Bela Lugosi), again in the movie of the same name.

"Scarface Tommy Udo" in "Kiss of Death" -- Richard Widmark as the prototype for all drug-addict psycho-killers in all movies thereafter.

Klaatu in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (Michael Rennie). "Klaatu Barrada Nicto!"

Major "King" Kong in "Dr. Strangelove" (Slim Pickens). He's the bomber pilot who rides the H-bomb down to ground zero!

Captain Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny" (Humphrey Bogart). All those great rants, including the one about who stole his strawberries. And the way he clicked ball bearings in one hand when he was about to lose it.

Professor Quatermass in "The Quatermass Experiment" and "Quatermass 2." (Brian Donlevy). Before Quatermass, all scientists in the movies were either mad or nice old duffers with beautiful daughters. Quatermass was "good," sort of, but also a cold-blooded bastard who'd do anything to get a rocket into space.

The actors John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Spencer Tracy (and the comedians W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers) basically played the same character in every movie they ever made, so they are actors who also count as "characters." You can say the same thing about Bruce Willis, pretty much.

Oh yes, Charles' Laughton's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" in the original sound picture of the same name. A great part.