# Best portrayals of really smart people **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826 "2011-01-16T15:54:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/21 "2011-01-16T22:11:35Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > scott bakula’s character in quatum leap? Bakula’s character never struck me as very bright - rather the writers would go out of their way to make him an everyman and make up advanced skills for him for the sake of advancing a particular story, then dump them afteward. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/22 "2011-01-17T01:41:21Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > N.B.: [_A Beautiful Mind_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Mind_%28film%29) would **not** make the list. See [here.](http://www.slate.com/id/2060110/) Do you mean Nash or the Nash character? Because even before he got better people around Princeton spoke of him in terms of awe I have not heard for any other living person. Except maybe Claude Shannon. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/23 "2011-01-17T01:43:28Z")
Most of the good characters in **Real Genius**. There is a wide range of personality types, from those with good sex lives to those who live in a closet, and it shows that even when you are a genius not everything comes easily. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/24 "2011-01-17T02:16:11Z")
The Professor from _Gilligan’s Island_ of course ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/25 "2011-01-17T02:22:17Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Do you mean Nash or the Nash character? Because even before he got better people around Princeton spoke of him in terms of awe I have not heard for any other living person. Except maybe Claude Shannon. Nash as presented in the movie. Having _met_ the real John Nash, Russell Crowe’s depiction is far, far short of the real man. I’ll grant that Crowe might have made a convincing ‘schmott guy’ if I’d never met Nash, but he just doesn’t add up to the real deal. Likewise, I’ve never seen a convincing representation of Feynman, another fabulously intelligent man I’ve met. OTOH, Sir Basil Rathbone remains my favorite Sherlock Holmes. I’ve yet to see a latter-day Holmes that meets my expectations after growing up with Rathbone playing him. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/26 "2011-01-17T02:30:26Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Do you mean Nash or the Nash character? Because even before he got better people around Princeton spoke of him in terms of awe I have not heard for any other living person. Except maybe Claude Shannon. I meant the biopic is not a good portrayal of the real-life figure, who, from what I’ve read, was both more interesting and less likable. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/27 "2011-01-17T02:41:29Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > I thought Parker Stevenson did a decent job on _Probe_. Fell into the standard Asimov template of being emotionally cold, but that wasn’t surprising. Yes. He was a bit of a comic book character, but Parker Stevenson really made the concept work. ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/28 "2011-01-17T02:52:16Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The Nasa staff in _Apollo 13_. I’ll second that. No one portrayed in that story was some uber-genius (yet flawed) who solved the whole problem alone. Just a bunch of _believably_ brilliant and capable folks working on a real problem. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/29 "2011-01-17T03:19:05Z")
I’ve always liked the guy who plays Dr. Reid on Criminal Minds… Joe ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/30 "2011-01-17T03:28:17Z")
> [@Green\_Rosetta](#): > > Clark Peters (Lester Freeman) and Jim True-Frost (Prezbo) on The Wire. Though you couldn’t call either of them geniuses, they played characters who had an amazing talent for solving puzzles and finding solutions. The fact that they had some serious judgment flaws sometime made it all the more plausible. There are many characters on The Wire who qualify. Smooth Lester Freeman is first, of course, but then there’s McNulty, Avon, Stringer, and Cedric all showing brilliance at different points. Many others jump in as well. A lot of the pleasure of the show was the sense of watching a cat-and-mouse game between really intelligent players. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/31 "2011-01-17T04:03:28Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > With regards to the Picard-Wesley conflict, while I think it existed, I think **Rickjay** is wrong about Picard’s concerns. He believed (and I agree) that even if Wesley went the science-engineering route in his Starfleet career, he was going to screw himself if he didn’t know more about history. I’m sure he did believe that, and he might well have been correct, though we never see any evidence he is. I’m not sure how I said anything to contradict such a position. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/32 "2011-01-17T04:07:43Z")
Tom Baker ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/33 "2011-01-17T05:05:20Z")
Are Time Lords people? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/34 "2011-01-17T05:14:21Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > Nash as presented in the movie. Having _met_ the real John Nash, Russell Crowe’s depiction is far, far short of the real man. I’ll grant that Crowe might have made a convincing ‘schmott guy’ if I’d never met Nash, but he just doesn’t add up to the real deal. I only met Nash once, at his home in Princeton Junction while he was still sick, but I knew Alicia very well and that portrait isn’t great either. The most interesting thing about her was that she had Nash in her home even after they were divorced, which I think is more significant than doing it if they were married. I never understood why she seemed to attract mathematicians, but then I suppose I’m not one. I think the problem with Crowe’s performance in part is that neither he nor anyone really involved in the filming understood why Nash was important. They spent so much time on the delusions they had no time for the real story. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/35 "2011-01-17T13:55:06Z")
_ **Monk** _- In the early episodes, he was brilliant. The later shows made a mockery of his OCD and carried it to an absurd extreme. The show would spend 15 minutes dealing with some phobia of his and get away from the mystery. I thought it humiliated his character. (I’ve always loved Tony Shaloub and thought he was the sexiest guy on \*Wings \*when he played Antonio the cab driver.) _ **The West Wing** _- Ditto what the others said. One only hopes the people running the real government are as smart as Sorkin’s characters. Does anyone remember a short-lived but sharp Aaron Sorkin comedy show called [Sports Night](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165961/)? The dialogue was pure Sorkin- on his shows I have to have the captioning on, because the patter is so fast I can’t follow it otherwise. _ **Bones** _- To me, this show is an example of a BAD portrayal of a really smart person. And she’s worse this season than ever before- more insensitive, more clueless, more robot-like. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/36 "2011-01-17T14:03:43Z")
Brian Cox as Leckter in Manhunter. Charles Forbin in Collossus : The Forbin Project. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/37 "2011-01-17T15:24:54Z")
I second House and Doogie Howser, and add Benedict Cumberbatch as the new Sherlock Holmes and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/38 "2011-01-17T17:10:16Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > … I knew Alicia very well and that portrait isn’t great either. The most interesting thing about her was that she had Nash in her home even after they were divorced, which I think is more significant than doing it if they were married. An interesting and valid point. I’ve never met her, but it seems to me, based on what I _do_ know of her, that Alicia doesn’t come off as well as she ought in the movie, either. > [@](#): > > I think the problem with Crowe’s performance in part is that neither he nor anyone really involved in the filming understood why Nash was important. They spent so much time on the delusions they had no time for the real story. That’s part of the problem of creating this kind of work for the general population. So very few people out there understand the arcana of what makes these folks so critical - hell, I can barely discern dim outlines of Nash’s genius myself, and I _like_ and am _good_ at math. So rather than spend 90 minutes filling in the picture with explanations of arcana, they go for the more readily-grasped story. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/39 "2011-01-17T17:16:53Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Most of the good characters in **Real Genius**. There is a wide range of personality types, from those with good sex lives to those who live in a closet, and it shows that even when you are a genius not everything comes easily. OK, this was one of the two I immediately thought of. I liked the portrayal of Einstein in the light-heart movie [IQ](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0110099%2F&rct=j&q=imdb%20IQ&ei=LHk0TbjxK8PflgfntPzYCg&usg=AFQjCNF3QB6XYi6MOQqWzorwah7wWyoWfA&cad=rja). I thought Walter Matthau did a excellent job and the character portrayed was fairly balanced. Also Meg Ryan’s characters was another good example. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/40 "2011-01-17T17:22:48Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > Likewise, I’ve never seen a convincing representation of Feynman, another fabulously intelligent man I’ve met. The only fictional presentation of Richard Feynman (it is a measure of his influence that the spell-checker in Firefox knows how to spell his name) I’ve ever seen was Matthew Broderick in the movie [_Infinity_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116635/). That movie was more about the love story of Richard and Arline. I’d love to see a real biography, but the general public wouldn’t know who he is (in spite of Firefox) and wouldn’t go see it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826.md?page=3)