Dr. Millicent Clyde is the villain and main antagonist in the 2014 film Paddington. She is the head taxidermist at the Natural History Museum. She is played by Nicole Kidman.
History[]
Millicent is a taxidermist, who has been trying to stuff a South American bear for years. Millicent's motivation is revealed in a series of flashbacks. She was bitter towards her father Montgomery Clyde for refusing to bring back a specimen of the bears he found in Darkest Peru, which resulted in his banishment from the Geographers Guild and her mother Agatha Clyde left her father and run off with a magician. Now she wants to stuff Paddington, so she can claim the glory that her father refused.
After her henchman informs her of a bear that immigrated to London from Peru, Millicent shows a keen interest in capturing Paddington. She has a pinboard covered in clippings of Paddington, Lucy and Pastuzo.
When Millicent breaks into the security office at Paddington Station, she uses the CCTV footage to find the cab that Paddington left in. She uses the license plate to track down Joe, the cab driver. She threatens him when he refuses to tell her where Paddington is staying, and he soon submits and gives her the address.
Upon learning that Paddington is temporarily residing with the Brown family, she conspires with their neighbor Mr. Curry to capture Paddington. Millicent's first attempt to capture Paddington involves breaking into the Browns' house while Paddington is home alone, which is ultimately a failure on Millicent's part and results in a fire,. Upon seeing that the Browns won't believe his side of the story, Paddington leaves to find Montgomery Clyde himself. When he locates the explorer's house (No. 36), he soon learns of the explorer's death and that Millicent is his daughter. However, when she takes Paddington to the taxidermist van, she encounters Mr. Curry, who tries to convince her not to murder Paddington. Millicent angrily rebukes him. Millicent tranquilizes Paddington and brings him to the Natural History Museum, and prepares to have him stuffed. Mr. Curry calls the Browns under the alias "Mr. Burry" and warns them of Paddington's imminent fate. She shows Paddington what he would look like as a stuffed bear.
The Browns break into the Natural History Museum through the sewers while Millicent prepares to stuff Paddington.
When Jonathan causes a power outage, Millicent leaves her office to investigate and discovers the sabotage. After the Browns manage to wake up Paddington, he runs and uses two hoovers to inch his way up a vent onto the roof, where the Browns are waiting for him. Millicent intercepts them all and threatens Paddington with the tranquiliser gun in hand. Mr. Brown says that she will have to go through the Browns to get to Paddington, and Millicent says she is open to the idea of stuffing humans as long as she gets to Paddington. As a final request before he hands himself over, Paddington asks to eat his emergency marmalade sandwich. Millicent grants his request, and Paddington throws the sandwich at her, causing a flock of pigeons to attack her in pursuit of the sandwich. Millicent trips backwards but regains her balance until Mrs. Bird flings open a roof hatch which hits Millicent. Millicent falls off the roof but grabs a flagpole and dangles from it in indignation. Mrs. Bird throws some rum at Millicent in disdain.
At the end of the film, Millicent was tried in court and sentenced to community service in a messy, demeaning job at the same petting zoo.
Personality[]
Millicent is corrupt, manipulative, vengeful, and blinded by greed.
She is not content with her job which encompasses simply looking after the taxidermied animals. She seeks rare species which she secretly imports, kills and then stuffs by herself. This is both immoral and illegal, painting Millicent as the villain as soon as she is introduced.
Millicent shows that she is not above lying and blackmailing in order to get what she wants. She tracks down the cab driver that drove Paddington to Windsor Gardens. When he refuses to give her Paddington's address, she ties him up and threatens him. After she gets the information, she releases the cab driver, still tied up, and he falls into the river. Unless he was helped, it is almost certain that the restraints on his arms and legs would have resulted in his demise. In order to get close enough to kidnap Paddington, Millicent finds the perfect, disposable partner-in-crime, Mr. Curry. She buzzes Paddington with shears. then expresses a vague interest in him, especially since they are in pursuit of the same goal: removing Paddington from Windsor Gardens. After Mr. Curry has outlived his usefulness, Millicent aggressively rejects him and his romantic advances.
Millicent has dedicated her whole life to avenging her father's wrongful banishment from the Geographers' Guild. However, her anger is misplaced, as Montgomery Clyde was perfectly happy with his petting zoo. Instead of blaming the Guild for exiling her father, she blames the bears he discovered, since they led to his humiliation and subsequent expulsion from the Guild.
Abilities[]
- Knife Throwing: In her introductory scene, Millicent throws a knife at a picture of the bears from Darkest Peru, hitting it dead in the centre of the photograph.
- Stealth: Millicent breaks into 32 Windsor Gardens with ease, then leaves without a trace.
- Tranquilizer Shooting: In the final, climatic scenes of the film, Millicent is shooting a tranquilizer gun. She manages to shoot Paddington a couple of times, but he eventually escapes, managing to dodge the bullets.
- Taxidermy: Millicent continues to stuff rare animals in order to leave her legacy in the Natural History Museum. Her skill in taxidermy proves she is adept with sharp tools and chemicals (such as borax).
- Shearing, buzzing bears
Trivia[]
- Mr. Curry is shown to have a crush on Millicent.
- It is not clear which address is Millicent's, and she either lives at 36 Hetchleys Road (where montage implies) or 36 Braddock Street (address that Paddington crosses off). Neither of these are streets that exist in London.
- Millicent is an original character, as she doesn't appear in Paddington (1975 TV series), The Adventures of Paddington Bear, nor in the book series.
- Millicent does not appear in Paddington 2, presumably still doing her community service in the petting zoo as for her punishment, and has likely learned her lesson after what she tried to do to Paddington.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Some Clips:
- CRV king julien tells millicent clyde to stopy (some sec.)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhphFzCdRdI However, Mr. Curry, having a change of heart after realizing her true intentions, informs the Brown family of the events, and they manage to rescue Paddington
- The Menacing Millicent | Vicious Villains (19 min)
Websites[]
Related Pages[]
- Taxidermy (wikipedia)
- Taxidermie (Geman wikipedia page)