It’s in Invincable, the true story of Vince Papale, a teacher who walked into a Philadelphia Eagles open call in 1976 and makes the team. Mark Wahlberg plays Papale, and Kinnear plays Eagles coach Dick Vermiel.
Jeff Bridges looks almost nothing like Preston Tucker (not to mention he was younger than Tucker during the events of the film), but he managed to capture the mannerisms and charm that Tucker had.
George C. Scott didn’t look very much like Patton, but he captured Patton’s mannerisms perfectly.
Cliff Robertson doesn’t really resemble JFK, IMHO, but he was JFK’s choice to play him. Robertson also doesn’t resemble Henry Ford, but was able to subsume himself into the character well enough, that you didn’t notice the differences.
Speaking of JFK – William DeVane in The Missiles of October. Even after all these years, in other roles, you’re still struck by his uncanny resemblance to Kennedy.
Also, and excuse the double post, Joe Mantegna as Dean Martin in The Rat Pack very strongly resembled Dino.
You think so, huh? I thought the actor who played Jackie Robinson as he was in 1947 was a little old for the part myself. 
Coincidentally, Ruby Dee, who played Jackie’s wife, Rae Robinson, in The Jackie Robinson story, played Jackie’s mother in The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson.
You know, I completely bought Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles up until the very end of the movie when you see the two of them sitting side by side.
Maybe so, but I didn’t think Martin Sheen looked too much like RFK in that same flick. In contrast, I thought Steven Culp was Bobby Kennedy’s identical twin in Thirteen Days.
Scott did a better Patton than Patton himself did. Patton was a small man with a high squeeky voice.
Anthony Hopkins didn’t look at all like Richard Nixon but everytime I see Joan Allen in a movie I think, “hey it’s Pat Nixon”.
I remember seeing an add for some made-for-TV bio of Josephine Baker and thinking that the actress was too beautiful to play Josephine.
Oh yeah, I was DISTRACTED throughout the entire film by how much Culp looked like RFK. It’s a good thing I already knew how the story ends, because every single time he was on screen (which is a lot), I spent a few minutes saying*“Holy crap, it’s bizarre how much he looks like Bobby!”
*I was watching it at home, not in a movie theater
Usually though, it’s the performance that sucks me in and often manages to trick me into thinking there’s a decent resemblance when it isn’t really there at all. I don’t think Sissy Spacek looks particularly like Loretta Lynn (other than that they’re both attractive white women), but I think her portrayal in Coal Miner’s Daughter is 100% convincing.
Anthony Hopkins looked and sounded NOTHING like Nixon. I could never buy into the role. When actors protray people from before the age of television it doesn’t matter so much how closely they resemble the person, in a movie about, say, Lewis and Clarke I wouldn’t care one bit about whether the actors chosen look anything like the people portrayed.
But Nixon? It just didn’t work. He looked nothing like Nixon, every time he’s onscreen (which is always) he brought the movie to a screeching halt. Well, that and Oliver Stone’s script, which didn’t make any sense.
One portrayal that did work as John Travolta as not-Clinton in “Primary Colors”. Travolta doesn’t look much like Bill Clinton, but he pulled off Clinton’s mannerisms and persona without a hitch.