Bryan Cranston thinks Lyndon Johnson was a psychopath

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Bryan Cranston thinks Lyndon Johnson was a psychopath
(Image credit: Getty Images)

During yesterday's "Psychos We Love" panel at the Tribeca Film Festival, Bryan Cranston was widely expected to discuss the pathology of his Breaking Bad protagonist Walter White. But during the discussion, Cranston rejected that idea that Walter White was a psychopath. Instead, he pointed the finger at a rather unlikely choice: Lyndon Baines Johnson, whom Cranston is currently playing in Broadway's All the Way.

"He was certainly a man who damned the means, justifying the ends," said Cranston. "He would do anything in his arsenal to be able to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish. And he would throw someone under the bus who was an innocent, if need be, in order to do it. Sadly, you look at that and you say, 'Well he was able to gain tremendous accomplishments domestically that we all share and enjoy to this day. But if he was not that type of person, would he have been able to accomplish this things?' And a lot of historians would say, 'No. No way.'"

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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.