Claudia Hartnell (Best Friends)

The evil Claudia Hartnell

Claudia Hartnell (Claudette Mink) is the main villainess from the 2005 Lifetime film, Best Friends. She is the best friend of Beth Ferrier, but she has secretly harbored jealousy of Beth's wonderful life and developed an obsession with obtaining that life for herself. She was also later revealed to have a penchant for marrying wealthy men for their money and lavish lifestyles.

The first act that Claudia commits is killing her well-to-do husband, and she later sets her sights on Beth's husband, Kurt. Claudia pulls all stops to eliminate Beth from the proverbial picture; drugging Kurt and removing his wedding ring, setting up Beth to be pulled over for drunk driving by swapping the diabetic woman's insulin with a needle of alcohol, and even killing her lover when he figured out her real game plan. She also drugged Beth so she could make it appear she was drinking again (her having been recovering from alcoholism) and used her credit card to blow a large amount of money on a gambling website. When Beth and Kurt's live-in niece Sophie uncovered Claudia's evil schemes, she attempted to frame her for the theft of Kurt's ring.

In the film's climax, Claudia enters Beth's house and points a gun at her, forcing her to write a suicide note under the threat of killing her son if she refused. She also revealed that she grew up in poverty and had vowed never to return to that life again. The women struggle and fight, which results in Claudia getting shot and later hospitalized while she's arrested. In the final scene of the film, Claudia poses for her mugshot, while insisting that she never could do what she did to Beth, because Beth is her best friend.

Trivia

• Claudette Mink also appeared in 2003's Rush of Fear as villainess Carly and in 2009's Web of Desire as the psychotic Finn Conners.
• Claudette Mink also appeared as an unnamed villainous mother on The Haunting Hour.