Rex Hamilton played Abraham Lincoln in all six epsiodes of the brief but beloved TV series Police Squad! For a look at his acting chops in the role, check this out.
For Abe, I’d go with Lyle Lovett. He’s not really tall enough, but he’s got the lanky look. I also second Levon Helm. He can act.
For Mary, I don’t know how well she do drama, but Melissa McCarthy(Sookie from Gilmore Girls) has the look - short, plump brunette. Similar bone structure.
StG
“I am tired of these motherfucking soldiers in this motherfucking South!”
I picture Jackson as a Booth who’s in denial about alleged black blood and insist he’s Mediterranean.
Kathy Bates would be great for a (long overdue imho) movie about Mary Todd’s last years- her sanity hearings and fights with her estranged son Robert and reclusiveness, perhaps with a younger actress to play her in flashbacks, but she’s ‘long in the tooth’ for the married years.
Ironically I’m writing a play at the moment about Varina Davis (wife of Jefferson) and totally envision Batesfor the older Varina in that. The play is non linear but begins in 1898 as Varina, hated by many southerners for having moved to NYC, tells parts of her story to her close friend in later years, Julia [aka Mrs. Ulysses S] Grant (which was another reason many southerners hated her) as other actresses play her in flashbacks to teen years through age 50. (Varina is an enigmatic character- she wrote hagiographic accounts of her late husband in her final years for publication in newspapers and books, while she told “the real story” in letters to friends and family- she totally knew she was bullshitting about how great he was but she was the high priestess of his cult largely due to financial necessity, though she did say publicly the south was wrong and slavery was evil [another reason many southerners hated her].)
So did Lincoln, so it could work.
Frank Langella and Pam Anderson. have to find a reason for watching it. If not Pam, Kathy Bates.
Langella’s too meaty and his voice is too deep. Lincoln needs to be somebody who looks like a minor cold would kill him (though he was actually pretty hardy) and with a voice that grates at first but you tune out to how it sounds and listen to what he’s saying after a moment.
Alexis Denisof
6"2
44 years old
good actor
bit of a high pitched voice
kind of lanky
connoisseur of large hats
http://www.about-knowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/alexis_denisof3.jpg
The guy who played Lincoln in North & South did a pretty good job. Patrick Swayze could out dance him tho. Even with the bad leg.
Jane Lynch.
I mean, she’s even from Illinois and everything.
Voice is too deep and too tall. I do like the idea of “That’s how Abe… sees it!” moments. “Tonight I want to talk about sneaky slaves…”.
I think **Tove **was suggesting Lynch for the Lincoln role!
A while back (like before he died), there was a rumor that Disney might update “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” with Harve Pressnell as Lincoln, after seeing the way he read the Lincoln letter in “Saving Private Ryan.”
That would have been pretty damned good. But I’m biased. 
The Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum had an Abe & Mary Lincoln impersonator for the Lincoln bicentennial last year. They were great, not sure if they could carry a whole movie, though.
Get the guy who plays House. If that foppish, very English guy can play House so that it surprises me how different the two people are then that guy can act anything. Hell, he could probably do a great Mrs. Lincoln.
However, Ben Cross (as noted above) looks like a good Lincoln.
Hugh Laurie— oooh. Good one. Already tall and thin and capable of many voices.
I was in Springfield, Illinois fifteen or so years ago and stopped at a KFC for dinner. Standing next to me in line as I approached the counter was the spit and image of Abraham Lincoln. This wasn’t a case of “kinda looked like him” but rather “looked exactly like him.” Beard, hairstyle, facial features, the whole package. Clearly he was an impersonator for local events, but this must have been his day off, as he was wearing a flannel shirt and blue jeans.
It was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had, seeing this guy I’d only known from history books and five dollar bills made flesh, but dressed like he just knocked off work at the plant.
So if Spielberg wants someone who has the look, tell him to start scouting Springfield’s KFCs around quittin’ time.
Lincoln actually wore flannel shirts and blue jeans, or something close. The direct ancestor of blue jeans became popular across the country as work clothes during the 1850s gold rush and Lincoln loved them as his riding attire and even had a pair custom made to fit him. (His wife was mortified because it wasn’t uncommon for him to have six inches of shin exposed since he couldn’t buy pants that fit and had gotten used to it in his poorer days when tailor mades were too expensive.)
He never would have gone to KFC though- totally an Arby’s guy.