# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/41 "2011-01-17T17:22:49Z")
Has anyone here seen Michael Frayn’s plays, or Tom Stoppard’s? Stuff like Frayn’s [Copenhagen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_(play)), about the conversations physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg had during WW2? Or Stoppard’s [Arcadia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_(play)), which explores concepts of time and the certainty of knowledge? These feel like Aaron Sorkin-type grown-up, smart dialogue about complex scientific, moral and ethical issues. And the characters discuss them seriously and in a non-dumbed-down sort of way… ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/42 "2011-01-17T18:51:23Z")
Al Swearengen in Deadwood. Best evil genius ever: he’s not an academic, but he really is the smartest guy in town. He understands things that the people around him simply can’t grasp, and that superior intelligence is how he holds his position: it isn’t just a quirk or a way to shoe-horn exposition into the plot, it’s what shapes his every move and interaction. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/43 "2011-01-17T19:53:05Z")
An out-of-left-field one I thought of: Ferris Bueller. He’s not very mature or responsible, but he’s certainly smart. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/44 "2011-01-17T19:56:14Z")
Gil Grissom in CSI ---
**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, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/45 "2011-01-17T20:09:57Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > 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. Matthau was good, but the portrayals of Godel and Podolsky were just awful - Larry and Curly to Einstein’s Moe. No one watching the movie would ever know that they were geniuses also. Godel for Og’s sake! The gas station they used was down the road from where I lived at the time, and I was pulled out of the movie a bit when he rode his bicycle around the modern Nassau Square, but it wasn’t bad. ---
**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, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/46 "2011-01-17T20:30:04Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Al Swearengen in Deadwood. Best evil genius ever: he’s not an academic, but he really is the smartest guy in town. He understands things that the people around him simply can’t grasp, and that superior intelligence is how he holds his position: it isn’t just a quirk or a way to shoe-horn exposition into the plot, it’s what shapes his every move and interaction. Good one! Part of his relationship with Bullock is that Bullock’s just about the only guy in town who can keep up with him. Bullock isn’t a schemer, but he’s able to think, and even though he spends a lot of his time thwarting Swearengen, Al ends up liking him a lot because the guy’s no dummy. It’s a lot of fun watching Swearengen’s contempt and disgust for his goons as he has to dumb down his plans so they can understand what the hell they’re supposed to do. He never has to do that with Bullock. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/47 "2011-01-17T20:35:49Z")
On the humanities side, I enjoyed Laurence Fishburne as the ultra-literate English professor in _Akeelah and the Bee_. ---
**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, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/48 "2011-01-17T20:47:43Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Matthau was good, but the portrayals of Godel and Podolsky were just awful - Larry and Curly to Einstein’s Moe. No one watching the movie would ever know that they were geniuses also. Godel for Og’s sake! > > The gas station they used was down the road from where I lived at the time, and I was pulled out of the movie a bit when he rode his bicycle around the modern Nassau Square, but it wasn’t bad. I agree, in fact you might say my omission of them while even praising Meg Ryan’s character was telling. A good job with Einstein and Meg’s character, not so good with the rest sums it up well. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/49 "2011-01-18T00:09:15Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > _ **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. Zeus, but I loved _Sports Night_. Far, far more than I loved _The West Wing_, and I adored the latter show. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Good one! Part of his relationship with Bullock is that Bullock’s just about the only guy in town who can keep up with him. Bullock isn’t a schemer, but he’s able to think, and even though he spends a lot of his time thwarting Swearengen, Al ends up liking him a lot because the guy’s no dummy. It’s a lot of fun watching Swearengen’s contempt and disgust for his goons as he has to dumb down his plans so they can understand what the hell they’re supposed to do. He never has to do that with Bullock. As I think on it, Little Bill in _Unforgiven_ was also extremely intelligent; definitely the smartest man in town. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/50 "2011-01-18T02:19:21Z")
I like Jodie Foster’s character in “Contact”. She has the IQ but gets tripped up by her lack of emotional intelligence and at times seems bewildered by how this can happen, which occurs to a lot of high IQ people. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/51 "2011-01-18T17:30:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Them too, of course. One of my favorite moments in the show is when Sheldon has come up with an algorithm, shown as a flowchart on a whiteboard, for making friends. When he tries to use it and it goes wrong, Howard gets up, erases part of the flowchart, _and then replaces it with more flowcharting to fix the problem_. Not only is that nerdy and intelligent, it’s also a flavor of nerdiness and intelligence which is very characteristic of an engineer. Well, sorta. I know a lot of engineers. Electrical engineers, mostly, some mechanicals too. While they’re nerdy, I guess (I’m nerdy myself, so probably don’t notice it as much), very few of them make flowcharts outside of the office or in social situations. Or for social situations, come to that. Not saying they’re not analytical and super intelligent, but they don’t do charts. I do have to admit a bias, though - I’m a little tired of the meme that engineers are socially awkward nerds that can barely speak to others. All the engineers I know are friendly, fun, really awesome people to hang around. A little nerdy, yes, but they generally don’t bring the Star Wars or vector analysis until after they know you better. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/52 "2011-01-18T17:32:36Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I like Jodie Foster’s character in “Contact”. She has the IQ but gets tripped up by her lack of emotional intelligence and at times seems bewildered by how this can happen, which occurs to a lot of high IQ people. Does “lack of emotional intelligence” mean “not a pandering sleezeball”? Because that is what I got from her testimony to Congress. How many decades before America has an Atheist President? ---
**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:** [January 18, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/53 "2011-01-18T17:35:22Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Speaking of forensic pathologist, I’ll nominate David McCallum (Ducky on _NCIS_) Anybody else? & Abigail “Abby” Sciuto > [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > I’ve always liked the guy who plays Dr. Reid on Criminal Minds… & Penelope Garcia ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/54 "2011-01-18T18:51:02Z")
Dr. Rush on SGU. [William Forrester](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181536/). ---
**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 18, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/55 "2011-01-18T18:53:20Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Does “lack of emotional intelligence” mean “not a pandering sleezeball”? Because that is what I got from her testimony to Congress. > > How many decades before America has an Atheist President? Many, many decades. I predict an openly gay President before an Atheist President. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/56 "2011-01-18T19:51:28Z")
I must admit I don’t find very many portrayals very realistic. I understand “smart” to mean that their mind moves fast, not that they know a lot of trivia, or even knowledge within their field (if that knowledge is easy to come by if you just read enough). Oftentimes characters are blown up to be super geniuses (phd in math before age 24 for instance), and it seems completely unrealistic, and not much else in the character seems to indicate that they are that smart. For instance, the new girl in House, or the guy in Fringe, are unbelievable to me. I think that House works, I especially like that we often see him actually sitting and thinking. Also Swearengen was a good one. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/57 "2011-01-18T21:16:40Z")
Quoth **Snickers** : > [@](#): > > I do have to admit a bias, though - I’m a little tired of the meme that engineers are socially awkward nerds that can barely speak to others. All the engineers I know are friendly, fun, really awesome people to hang around. A little nerdy, yes, but they generally don’t bring the Star Wars or vector analysis until after they know you better. Of course, he was in the company of other nerds, there. He never would have done that if there were a girl present he was trying to impress. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/58 "2011-01-18T21:48:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Snickers** :Of course, he was in the company of other nerds, there. He never would have done that if there were a girl present he was trying to impress. True. I’m pretty definitively a nerd. I have good social skills with friends, and generally have a great sense of humor. Put with with a couple of people I know well and I get along great. But I never learned how a party works and am utterly useless at one. I don’t know how to “network”. And it was nothing short of a miracle that I ever got laid in the first place. Nobody has an equal level of social awkwardness in all situations. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/59 "2011-01-18T21:55:44Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I think that House works, I especially like that we often see him actually sitting and thinking. Also Swearengen was a good one. My favorite scene of a genius at work: Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert in the movie [Topsy-Turvy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151568/fullcredits#cast). [In this scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF3Fq7ct6DE&feature=related) he has the inspiration for _The Mikado_. You can see the whole thing playing in Gilbert’s mind on Broadbent’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826/60 "2011-01-18T21:59:28Z")
Gillian Anderson as Dana Sculley (leaving aside how intelligent one can be if one is still a skeptic after all the stuff she witnessed in the show). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-portrayals-of-really-smart-people/567826.md?page=4)