# BEST physical matches between actor and role **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682 "2009-03-07T22:22:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/41 "2009-03-09T14:00:50Z")
You gonna mention Leigh and NOT mention Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler?:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/42 "2009-03-09T14:06:04Z")
Two from the X-Men movies: **Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier** and **Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.** I wasn’t altogether keen on the hairstyle for Wolverine in the first X-Men movies, but it looks a lot better in the promo shots for the new Wolverine movie. \*\* Clint Eastwood\*\* in pretty much any role where he’s a badass. **Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian.** Even the accent works for me in that one, as he’s supposed to be a stranger in a strange land, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/43 "2009-03-09T14:12:09Z")
Also Arnold as The Terminator. Nobody else could have done it right. Hugh Laurie as House, ditto. When the production team was talking about casting “3rd Rock from the Sun,” the first answer to “Who is going to play Dick?” was John Lithgow. Nobody else was ever considered or offered the role. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/44 "2009-03-09T14:22:53Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > When the production team was talking about casting “3rd Rock from the Sun,” the first answer to “Who is going to play Dick?” was John Lithgow. Nobody else was ever considered or offered the role. The first time I saw a preview for that show, I mentioned it to a friend of mine and he said he couldn’t imagine John Lithgow playing such an eccentric role. He remembered him from _Terms of Endearment_, and movies like that. I remembered him from _The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai_ and _The World According to Garp_ and knew he’d be perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/45 "2009-03-09T14:29:52Z")
The character of Harry was pictured as a big fat couch potato who basically did nothing but get calls from their leader. Then French Stewart answered the casting call and the production team rewrote the role for him. How could French Stewart NOT be cast as an alien? ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/46 "2009-03-09T14:48:10Z")
[Ralph Fiennes](http://www.tier8.net/ralph-fiennes/pictures/ralph-fiennes-main2.jpg) as [Amon Goeth](http://www.executedtoday.com/images/Amon_Goeth.jpg) in Schindler’s List. From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Fiennes looked so much like Göth in costume that when Mila Pfefferberg, a survivor of the events, met Fiennes she trembled with fear. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/47 "2009-03-09T15:12:14Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > **Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.** Although Jackman is the better part of a foot taller than Wolverine has been depicted at in the comics, I agree that he’s a great fit for the role otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/48 "2009-03-09T15:36:18Z")
I thought David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow in _Good Night, and Good Luck_ was spot-on. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/49 "2009-03-09T16:20:54Z")
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach (and especially as Walter Kovacs) in \*Watchmen \*was so spot-on that it was scary. Most of the others were good too, but he was the best. Some of the background characters were eerily close, too (like the psychiatrist who was examining Kovacs, and the newsstand guy who was barely even seen.) Also Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Dame Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall, and Alan Rickman as Severus Snape. (Don’t get me started on _bad_ physical matches in the HP movies…I don’t want to go off on a tiff about how little Gary Oldman and David Thewlis looked like Sirius Black and Remus Lupin should have looked). ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/50 "2009-03-09T16:47:51Z")
> [@Nightingale](#): > > Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara. I’m re-reading Gone With The Wind, and the descriptions of Scarlett sound like they were written for Leigh. Except for one thing - the first paragraph of the book says Scarlett is not beautiful. I agree that the mannerisms are spot on, but since I saw the movie first, I wonder if it is a symptom of fitting Vivian Leigh into the character instead of the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/51 "2009-03-09T16:48:37Z")
Jeff Daniels as _Gettysburg_ hero Joshua Chamberlain: [http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsD/4155-7141.gif](http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsD/4155-7141.gif) > **[Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](https://www.yahoo.com/)** > > Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo! I always thought Ed Harris (excellent in all the roles mentioned above) could also play Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson: [http://www.the-movie-times.net/pictdir3/actors/gallery/eharris/eharris8.jpg](http://www.the-movie-times.net/pictdir3/actors/gallery/eharris/eharris8.jpg) [http://chapters.ausa.org/stonewall/logo](http://chapters.ausa.org/stonewall/logo) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/52 "2009-03-09T17:09:35Z")
And yet it is Daniels who reads the Gettysburg Address on the CD of music from the production. An exceptionally fine reading, and definitive if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/53 "2009-03-09T17:49:36Z")
Val Kilmer as Jim Morrisson in _The Doors_. I thought the resemblance was uncanny. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/54 "2009-03-09T18:09:59Z")
Stephen Lang, who played Jackson in _Gods & Generals_, was very convincing to my Civil War buff of a friend. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/55 "2009-03-09T18:40:53Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Stephen Lang, who played Jackson in _Gods & Generals_, was very convincing to my Civil War buff of a friend. He’d also played Pickett in _Gettysburg_! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/56 "2009-03-09T19:35:04Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Madonna as Eva Peron Madonna and Eva Peron don’t look at all alike, aside from being women with blonde hair. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/57 "2009-03-09T20:15:29Z")
James Whitmore in “Give Them Hell Harry” looked like Truman’s twin. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/58 "2009-03-09T23:12:11Z")
The actor who plays Bishop Fisher on Showtime’s The Tudors ([Bosco Hogan](http://www.gillianreynoldscasting.com/i/thumbs/churchcivilaction_01.jpg)) is [Bishop Fisher’s](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/John_Fisher,_Bishop_of_Rochester,_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg) doppelganger. ---
**Author:** ![imfloating](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bc79bd/32.png) [@imfloating](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imfloating)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/59 "2009-03-09T23:30:54Z")
Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682/60 "2009-03-10T04:18:57Z")
Tak Hing Kwan, who portrayed Wong Fei Hung in scores of early HK martial arts movies, was told by WFH’s last wife “You look just like my late husband.” [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=69](http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=69) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-physical-matches-between-actor-and-role/488682.md?page=4)