The actor's reputation preceded him wherever he went; his _____ and supercilious manner was widely known, and even those who professed to admire him seldom regarded him as being anything but presumptuous.

Blank (i)

A) thrifty

B) pretentious

C) disagreeable

D) libelous

E) disinterested

I think B is the right answer. Nowhere does it imply that his manner is disagreeable. The whole thing is about being pretentious and supercilious.

I just can't see disagreeable as an option here; there doesn't seem to be a context for it.

Carcass's explanation is correct. The OA is 'disagreeable'.

I also selected B.

However after checking the OA, I presume that the word should contradict "admire" and similar to "presumptuous".
Supercilious is "thinking oneself superior to other" and hence does not contradict "admire".
So the other word would be the opposite of "admire".

A. thrifty: miserly, not wasteful. DOES NOT CONTRADICT "admire"
B) pretentious: ostentatious, pretending to impress. DOES NOT CONTRADICT "admire" but very similar to "presumptuous"
C) disagreeable: unfriendly, disliked. LITTLE OFF but CONTRADICTS "admire" and similar to "presumptuous"
D) libelous: defamatory. DOES NOT CONTRADICT "admire"
E) disinterested: showing no interest. DOES NOT CONTRADICT "admire"

So, the best bet seems C