For many, a decent coming-of-age story isn't complete without a memorable school authoritarian figure to either help guide the hero through tough choices or confront them with obstacles to overcome.
These high school head honchos, from both movies and TV shows, can provide either support or character-building antagonism for teens looking make a little mischief, survive a time travel experiment gone sideways, or - you know - save the world as we know it from dark sorcery. Hungry for knowledge? Fill your mind with these twelve iconic high school principals.
Please note: Both "Deans" and "Assistant Principals" included...
What Dean Edward Rooney lacked in humility and general awareness he made up for in tenacity and an overall life-mission to once and for all prove that privileged Ferris Bueller wasn't the angel everyone assumed he was. His failed quest to finally catch the truant teen may have battered, broken and humiliated the man, but at least he got a nice bus ride home. As viewers of this classic get older, new perspectives may actually cause some to side with the crusading dean and not the cocky teen.
Principal Mullins may have been a wild child "Stevie Nicks" girl in her youth, but her gig as the head of Horace Green Prep, and the threat of angry rich parents breathing down her neck, transformed her into a fidgety shadow of her former self. Fortunately, faux music teacher Dewey Finn came on board, just in time, to prove that everyone learns and grows when rock and roll is involved. The evergreen theme of "we were all young once" may feel trite at a distance, but Joan Cusack's performance is wonderful here as a boss who learns to stand up to bullying in her own way.
For almost three decades, Principal Seymour Skinner (voiced by the impeccable Harry Shearer) has laughably lorded over 4th grader Bart Simpson as head of Springfield Elementary. Forever battling rowdy students, dwindling resources, a crumbling building, and a surly staff, Seymour finds solace in both bureaucracy and discipline. Plagued by traumatic memories from his time in the Vietnam War and an unhealthy dependence on his menacing mother, Seymour still managed to woo (and almost marry) Bart's teacher, Edna Krabappel.
One of the most noble, do-right teachers-turned-principals-turned-professors ever to land on screen, William Daniels' Mr. Feeny not only taught Boy Meets World's Cory Matthews the difference between right and wrong during school hours, but after the final bell as well. As Cory's next door neighbor, Feeny's constant advice and guiding light was almost inescapable. In fact, Feeny's role as a mentor was so constant that he'd occasionally grow agitated when there was a crisis and no one sought his opinion.
As a fierce fatherly force to the orphaned Harry Potter, Hogwarts head Albus Dumbledore never quite made things easy for the "Boy Who Lived." He could have nurtured and coddled Harry throughout his formative years and tiring tutelage, but instead he allowed the lad to figure things out for himself. He'd come through in a clutch when absolutely necessary, but he was very hands-off when it came to allowing Harry the opportunity to shine on his own. Filled with secrets and mysterious motivations in his own right, Dumbledore was often cryptic and close-lipped, never revealing his true hand until the time was right.
Mr. Belding, the perpetually peppy principal of Bayside High, had his hands full with the antics and schemes of one Zach Morris for years. As the lead disciplinarian over a bunch of mirth-makers, Belding was a rare blend of friend and foe. He'd put his foot down when it counted, but was also always looking for a way to bond with the student body as a buddy. Belding even stuck around for the long-running Saved by the Bell: The New Class which saw him face his toughest challenge of all: Administrative Assistant Screech.
Poor mistreated Matilda sure got the worst of it from red-faced tyrant Miss Trunchbull, the bullying boss of bottom barrel Crunchem Hall. Ripped from the pages of Roald Dahl's book, Ms. Trunchbull's green jacket and cruel pigtail-hating demeanor sprang to life thanks to Pam Ferris' pitch-perfect performance, terrifying an entire generation of young moviegoers. There aren't many irredeemable despots on this list, but Trunchbull's mad marm harkens back to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest's Nurse Ratched and preludes Harry Potter's Dolores Umbridge.
It takes a true delusional dipstick to make a group of disaffected, disparate teenagers unite in snarky solidarity, but that's just happened when Shermer High's Dean Dick Vernon supervised five youths sentenced to Saturday detention. Don't mess with the bull or you'll get the horns with this guy as The Breakfast Club's Vernon demanded silence while assigning the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal to each write a 1000-word essay about why they were being punished. In spite of Vernon though, not because of him, the "Breakfast Club" all leave school that day as better people.
This mean ol' McFly-harasser from Back to the Future, played by James Tolkan, had the honor of not only sticking it to father George in the '50s, but also son Marty in the '80s. Convinced that no McFly would ever amount to anything in the history of Hill Valley, this enemy of slackers everywhere, and fervent Doc Brown denouncer, loved cutting Marty down to size, sharing with him that his band wasn't good enough to play a school dance. Even in Back to the Future II's Biff-verse, Strickland was the epitome of "get off my lawn!," threatening Marty with a shotgun
Corner-cutting captain of lowball Lawndale High, Daria's Principal Li never met a security measure she didn't adore - from fingerprinting to urine testing to locker searching. Li's love of rules never quite topped her lust for saving a buck by allowing her school to slowly disintegrate due to lack of proper maintenance and care. Mandatory fund-raisers were Li's usual solution to her mismanagement of money and she stands as one of the few fictional principals out there who cooked up the kind of schemes and ploys that you'd usually expect from fictional students.
1989 was a huge breakout year for Morgan Freeman what with Driving Miss Daisy, Glory, and Lean on Me all being released, and all containing star-making performances. Freeman's Principal Clark, loosely based on no-nonsense Jersey educator Joe Louis Clark - aka "Crazy" Joe, breaks all forms of protocol and rules in order to redeem and revamp Patterson's Eastside High, which had drastically deteriorated due to drugs and deviancy. Known for carrying a megaphone and a bat, Clark would kick off his stint as school savior by inviting all 300 known delinquents into the auditorium - and expelling them immediately.
Due to the successful odd-pairing of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in Twins, Kindergarten Cop would play the size discrepancy card again by casting the fiery 4' 9" Linda Hunt as the well-meaning, suspicious principal at Astoria Elementary School. Though initially wary of undercover cop John Kimble's tactics when it came to wrangling children, she beamed with delight when he took the initiative to rough up one of the fathers in his class - a known child abuser who somehow remained untouchable by local law. She may not have agreed with his methods, but dammit, like a judge in a legal drama, she'd allow it.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at http://ift.tt/2aJ67FB.
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