# A different people, same name question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2017, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896 "2017-02-15T11:40:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/1 "2017-02-15T11:40:23Z")
I’d love to see a serious, well-done movie about the opening of Japan. Not a comedy or parody, but (just because it would be funny) starring Matthew Perry as Matthew Perry. How about some other actors with a historical namesake that they could reasonably play? (Sorry for the vague subject line, I had a hard time coming up with something usefully descriptive.) ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/2 "2017-02-15T11:45:46Z")
Did Richard Burton ever play Richard Burton the explorer? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/3 "2017-02-15T12:29:54Z")
Has the singer Engelbert Humperdinck ever acted? I don’t know if playing a 19th century composer would be too much of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/4 "2017-02-15T12:53:28Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Has the singer Engelbert Humperdinck ever acted? I don’t know if playing a 19th century composer would be too much of a stretch. The artist chose that stage name because of the composer, so that would be kind of cheating. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/5 "2017-02-15T13:25:00Z")
I would hate to see Jane (“Live and Let Die”) Seymour lose her pretty little head. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/6 "2017-02-15T13:53:47Z")
Crap in a hat! I would pick the wife who wasn’t executed. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/7 "2017-02-15T14:37:06Z")
**Anne Hathaway** as \*\*Shakespeare’s \*\*wife, Anne Hathaway. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/8 "2017-02-15T15:44:05Z")
If **Jethro Tull** ever reunites, they’ll have to do a concept album about the 17th century agriculturalist. **Steve McQueen,** award-winning director of _12 Years a Slave,_ needs to do a biopic about the 70’s action movie star. It’s not too late for ex-Skid Row singer **Sebastian Bach** to star in a docudrama about the Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/9 "2017-02-15T16:00:17Z")
Maybe Harrison Ford could do a biopic about that silent film action hero, Harrison Ford. > **[Harrison Ford (silent film actor)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Ford_(silent_film_actor))** > > Harrison Ford (March 16, 1884 – December 2, 1957) was an American silent film actor. He was a leading Broadway theater performer and a star of the silent film era. > Born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Anna and Walter, Ford began his acting career on the stage. He made his Broadway debut in 1904 in Richard Harding Davis's Ranson's Folly. He went on to appear in productions of William C. deMille's Strongheart; Glorious Betsy by Rida Johnson Young (the production lasted only 24 performances bu... (They each have their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/10 "2017-02-15T16:01:09Z")
A slight stretch, but since “van” means “of,” Joan van Ark could play the Maid of Orléans. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/11 "2017-02-15T16:04:46Z")
There are two or three actors named Michael Jackson. They could play one of the many Michael Jacksons in song, writing, politics, or science (besides that famous one) > **[Michael Jackson (disambiguation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson_(disambiguation))** > > Michael Jackson (1958–2009) was an American singer, songwriter and dancer known as the "King of Pop". > Michael Jackson, Mike Jackson, or Mick Jackson may also refer to: Paul Simon the singer could play Paul Simon the now-deceased Illinois Congressman. Heck, they both appeared on the same episode of Saturday Night Live once. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/12 "2017-02-15T16:08:39Z")
Though not an actor, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) could be a certain sea captain. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/13 "2017-02-15T16:12:20Z")
Brian Wilson as Woodrow Wilson? Amy Adams as Abigail Adams? Denzel Washington as George Washington? Peter Jackson as Shoeless Joe Lackson? Stephen Tyler as John Tyler? Brad Pitt as William Pitt? Isaac Hayes as Rutherford B. Hayes? Aidy Bryant as William Jennings Bryant? Leslie Jones as John Paul Jones? Tonya Harding as Warren G Harding? Rita Coolidge as Calvin Coolidge? Dwayne Johnson as Lyndon B Johnson? Cynthia Nixon as Richard Milhous Nixon? Scarlett Johansson as David Johansson? Will Smith as Adam Smith? Julia Roberts as Justice Roberts? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/14 "2017-02-15T16:20:26Z")
Rocker Gene Simmons as Hollywood starlet Jean Simmons? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/15 "2017-02-15T16:36:39Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > **Steve McQueen,** award-winning director of _12 Years a Slave,_ needs to do a biopic about the 70’s action movie star. And director John Madden could do a biopic of former NFL coach/announcer John Madden. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/16 "2017-02-15T17:33:27Z")
If Paul Revere (Dick) of Paul Revere and the Raiders was still around, he could play Paul Revere. Heck, he already had the costume. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/17 "2017-02-15T17:35:46Z")
_Amazing Stories_ editor and _Fate_ magazine founder Ray Palmer could have played the superhero Ray “The Atom” Palmer (who really was named after the real-life Palmer) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/18 "2017-02-15T17:38:46Z")
Micheal (B.) Jordan as Michael Jordan. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/19 "2017-02-15T17:48:03Z")
It’s sadly to late to cast Prince as Machiavelli. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896/20 "2017-02-15T17:48:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Rocker Gene Simmons as Hollywood starlet Jean Simmons? How about Gene Simmons playing in the life story of Jumpin’ Gene Simmons, the singer of the rockabilly classic “Haunted House” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-different-people-same-name-question/779896.md?page=2)